Unexpected Attachments
by retropanda37
Summary: Sarah is baffled when a little boy she rescues on a mission forms an attachment to her, forcing her to face long-buried aspects of herself and come to terms with her feelings for Chuck.  Set in Season 2.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: So here we are at the start of my first multi-chapter fic. This whole fanfiction writing thing seems to be morphing from a fluke into a habit... I never realized I'd get such a kick out of writing these characters! A HUGE thanks goes out to NMH for being a fantastic beta and an even lovelier person who somehow deems me worthy of her awesomely entertaining messages week in and week out. I can't imagine writing this story without all the help she's provided! Definitely go check out her excellent fics if you haven't already—they are well worth a read :)_

_This story is set in Season 2, pre-Colonel, when there was lots of delicious sexual tension between Chuck and Sarah, but Sarah was still rather conflicted. I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you think!_

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or its characters. This is just for fun, and I'm not making any kind of profit—please don't sue.

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><p><em>Shots rang out in the darkness of night, breaking the blanket of silence draped over the suburban house. Inside, a woman scrambled to the room where her child lay sleeping, her heart pounding wildly. <em>

"_Mark? Terrance?" the mother called out to the guards stationed to protect the house. _

_She froze, straining to hear an answer, but none came. Terror condensed her thoughts into short gasps of action: run, hide, act, NOW. Making comforting sounds to the child in her arms as she ran, she skidded across the hardwood floors, her toes fumbling for grip in her slippery socks. Reaching the main bedroom, she raced past her husband and threw open the doors to the closet, placing the child as far back into the corner as she could manage._

_"Everything's going to be okay," she soothed as she held his chubby little face in her hands. "Stay here baby, not matter what, until the police come. Mommy loves you, always. Just stay hidden, okay baby?" _

_He nodded, clearly not understanding what was happening but seemingly responding to the desperation in her plea to stay. _

"_I love you so much. Never forget that," she choked out, a lump catching in her throat. She needed to stay strong. With one last caress of his cheek and kiss to his forehead, she shut the closet doors and turned to her husband. Their eyes locked as she approached his position in front of the bed, a small handgun trembling in his grip. He looked over at the closet and nodded in silent assent. _

_Abruptly, the door ripped open and guns thrust into the room, quickly followed by men clad entirely in black. _

"_On your knees! Hands up!" _

_The wife quickly complied even as her husband attempted to hold his hand steady, his handgun dwarfed by the automatic weapons. Quickly and efficiently, his gun was knocked away as if it was nothing more than a toy, and the man was forced to the ground with his wife. _

_Muzzles pressed roughly to the napes of their necks. _

"_Anything you want! Anything! Just please don't hurt us!" the husband cried._

_The voice that spoke was cold and emotionless, speaking just a hair too slowly to be conversational. "Give us the plans for the bioweapon, and perhaps you will live." _

_The woman's eyes filled with tears as she forced herself not to look in the direction of the closet, not to draw attention to the room's smallest occupant, obscured from sight. She willed him to be silent and stay hidden among the shoes and sweaters._

"_The pla-plans are on my computer, but you need my pa-password to access the files." The husband stumbled over his words, clumsy in his rush to force them through his lips. "I'll, I'll give it to you! It's D41141425W. Just please, please…" His voice broke, his plea unfinished._

_The largest man by the door, the one who had spoken, directed another man to obtain the documents. A tenuous silence filled the room as the husband and wife quivered, the adrenaline that coursed through their bodies the only thing holding them up on their knees. _

"_Got it boss." _

"_Move out." The men filed out of the room, leaving only the largest in the doorway. The couple sagged in relief when he turned to walk away. _

"_Thank you," the woman murmured._

_The man looked back down at them, at their expressions of relief, and raised his weapon. _

_Two shots rang out. _

_Two bodies slumped lifelessly to the ground. _

_Two foreheads dripped blood, marred by jagged holes. _

_Through the slots in the closet door, two wide little eyes watched the scene, trembling. The little boy put his hands over his head and curled into a ball, slowly rocking as silence descended on the house once again._

* * *

><p>"Major Casey, Agent Walker," the General's voice rang out.<p>

Sarah quickly lifted her head up from the paperwork she was completing late at night in Castle. Effortlessly, her back straightened and her features schooled into agent mode, any surprise she felt at the late hour of this communication efficiently masked. Casey walked into the room from the armory, his expression equally blank.

"The silent alarm has been activated at one of our safe houses outside of Los Angeles, and as of this moment we've lost all communication with the agents stationed there," the General began without preamble. "The asset residing at the safe house has been developing plans for a bioweapon, and we have reason to believe the plans have been compromised. I've assumed control of the operation from the L.A. field office, and I need you to assemble a team immediately to assess the situation. We cannot have this information falling into the wrong hands."

Sarah nodded briefly in acknowledgement as the General continued. "I've sent you the relevant information and specs of the safe house. Take the Intersect. See if he can flash on anything pertinent. We need to know how this breach occurred and who is responsible. Time is of the essence." The screen turned black once again.

"Go wake the moron, Walker. I'll gather the team and firepower."

Sarah rolled her eyes as she quickly stepped into a cell to change. Of course Casey would choose to gather the weapons; no surprise there. She grabbed a vest for Chuck and hurried up the stairs, barely glancing at her phone as she pressed his speed dial on her way to the car.

"Mmmm…Sarah?" Chuck's groggy voice came across the line.

"We have a mission, Chuck. Time to wake up. I'll be right over."

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><p>Sarah ducked through the Morgan door to find Chuck standing next to his bed, looking indecisive and rumpled with sleep.<p>

"Is it actually necessary to change out of my pajamas if I'm just going to stay in the van?"

Sarah flicked her eyes down to rest on his pants, finding them covered in light sabers and Yoda, and wanting to sigh that she could now identify those images so easily. She shot Chuck an incredulous look.

"Okay, okay!" His hands pulled up defensively. "Just thought I'd ask," he mumbled, as he pulled on less conspicuous clothing.

Sarah handed him the vest. "Hurry up. I'll explain what's going on in the car."

* * *

><p>The van pulled up at the safe house, an identical black van coming to a stop just behind it. The house seemed dark and quiet, peaceful even, under the night sky.<p>

"Maybe it was a false alarm," Chuck mused as he ducked his head to peer out of the window. "Doesn't look like anything is disturbed from here."

Sarah took a moment to turn and study him, marveling at his innocence while his face was looking out at the house. Chuck turned back towards her and started to smile softly. She quickly looked down under the guise of adjusting her earpiece.

"Appearances can be deceiving, Chuck."

She refused to look at him, cursing herself for letting him catch her with that look of wonder and caring on her face, obviously directed towards him. She needed to steady her footing before she slid all the way down that slippery slope. With a deep breath and a mental slap, she raised her head, no longer Sarah but Agent Walker, and the moment she had allowed her face and heart to soften was long gone.

"Surround the house and survey the damage." Agent Walker ordered through the comm. link. "Be alert for the possibility of remaining infiltrators." The van doors opened, synchronized agents falling into formation.

Agent Walker turned to Chuck before she exited herself. "Chuck, stay in th—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. Get out there already." Chuck rolled his eyes and turned back towards the monitors.

* * *

><p>The agents moved through the house, methodically checking and clearing rooms. "I've got two bodies down," Casey barked into the comm. link as he entered the master bedroom, moving to check the pulse of the fallen individuals. Agent Walker stood with gun poised as two agents pulled open the closet doors and pointed their guns inside.<p>

Among the boxes, clothes, and shoes scattered on the floor of the closet she spotted a shock of blonde hair glinting in the darkness. Stunned, she identified a little boy tucked in the corner, his brown eyes huge in his face, full of pure fear, his breathing fast and shallow as his body shook.

"Guns down!" Agent Walker ordered as she shoved her own in the back of her waistband. She moved towards the little figure, who was curled into a ball, holding his knees. As she moved closer, his eyes grew impossibly wider, and his head started to shake back and forth, tears welling in his eyes.

Agent Walker knelt to seem less imposing and consciously injected warmth and caring into her tone. "Hi there. It's okay. You're safe now." At her words, the little boy stopped rocking but made no move to come any closer. "I'm Agent…" her voice trailed off as she realized her status would mean nothing to the small child. She tilted her head and softened her demeanor even further. "I'm Sarah." She pointed at herself. "I'm here to help you and keep you safe. I'm…uh…I'm the police."

The little boy's head snapped up, focusing his wide eyes on her, and she reached out her hand. "It's okay," she coaxed, holding both her arms out now, palms tilted upwards as she nodded at him reassuringly. His stubby legs ran to her, and he crashed into her chest, crying. He buried his little head in her neck and clung to her. Sarah blinked in surprise, hesitantly reaching an arm out to pat his back despite feeling terribly uncomfortable.

"It's okay," she whispered awkwardly as his tears wet her shirt.

Her agent instincts automatically assessed the child—quickly checking for any injuries, observing his young age, and detachedly evaluating his desperate emotional state. He didn't appear to be in any physical distress, but he was clearly emotionally shaken. Underneath her agent mask, Sarah's heart broke for the scared and grieving child, and she picked him up as she stood. He clung to her tighter, even as his sobs began to subside into little hiccups.

Sarah's attention was startled from the little boy in her arms when Casey spoke.

"Chuck, can you confirm the identity of the asset?" Casey pointed the small camera pinned to his gear towards the faces of the bodies.

She heard Chuck cough, and his voice came cracking over the comm. "Oh, gross. Thanks for preparing me for that one, Casey."

Casey grunted.

"ID confirmed. That's the asset, and the woman is his wife. FYI guys, the file says they also have a three-year-old son, Danny."

Sarah looked down at the child in her arms, disbelief about the situation coursing through her. "Yeah, we found him," she breathed into the comm. link.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N_: Thank you so much to everyone who read, reviewed, and set an alert for this story! I'm beyond flattered and excited that anyone besides myself is interested in the idea that has been bouncing around in my head for the last several months. Another big thank you goes out to my beta extraordinaire, **NMH**, for her feedback, encouragement, and excellent eye for mistakes! I feel so lucky to have her insight.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or its characters. This is just for fun, and I'm not making any kind of profit—please don't sue.

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><p>"Chuck, the house is clear. Get in here and see if you can find anything important in the office or on the computer," Casey ordered.<p>

"Be right there," Chuck called over the comm. link.

Sarah listened to their exchange as she stood in the foyer of the house, still holding the little boy to her chest, his arms gripped around her neck and legs wrapped tightly around her waist. She felt exceedingly uncomfortable with him clinging to her, but when she attempted to put him down he had begun to wail, which was the infinitely more distressing option. So she continued to just stand there awkwardly, waiting.

Luckily, Chuck chose that moment to walk through the door. "Look at that, I actually stayed in the car until beckoned!" he teased. "Do I get bonus points?"

His eyes sparkled and he smiled at her, making that familiar warmth spread through her chest and causing her to involuntarily give him a small smile in return. She looked down at the child in her arms to cover her reaction, and Chuck turned a concerned face towards the little boy before looking back into her eyes. She shrugged lightly in response, unsure of what to say. Chuck's face was full of sympathy as he briefly placed one of his large hands on the child's back and ran his other hand down Sarah's arm. Was it her imagination, or did the child's breathing start to come a little easier? Perhaps the warmth of Chuck's touch, still tingling along the length of her arm, provided the same comfort to the little boy as it did to her.

Moving around the trio, agents continued to process the scene, talking amongst themselves. "The kid must have heard the gunfire, saw his parents get shot through the slats in the closet door," one of the agents said as he stole a look towards the little boy in Sarah's arms.

Immediately, Sarah tensed at his words and her body went cold. _Saw his parents get shot._ She closed her eyes for half a second, barely longer than a blink, and shook her head the slightest bit, just enough to forcibly push out the thoughts. This was not the time or place to let herself go down that path, and she quickly coerced the emotion to leave her features. When she looked over at Chuck, his eyes were full of curiosity and the slightest tinge of worry. Sarah stared back at him, as there was nothing to hide now; her eyes were blue pools of blankness and would give nothing further away.

She directed Chuck to the location of the computer in the house, but as she walked away she felt his eyes at her back, watching her.

* * *

><p>"I'm feeling a bit like the moron Casey always calls me," Chuck griped as he and Sarah walked towards the van, Danny still wrapped tightly around Sarah. "I wasn't able to extract any data from the fried computer drive that, I might add, someone was kind enough to shoot a bullet through, and I didn't flash on anything else in the house that could help us figure out who did this."<p>

"Chuck, don't say that. You flashed and confirmed the asset's identity." Sarah turned to look at him. "And more importantly, you followed directions and kept out of harm's way." She smiled as they reached the van.

Chuck folded his arms across his chest and tipped back on his heels, clearly pleased as he smiled back at her. She opened the side door and motioned Chuck in before leaning over to place Danny on the seat. He cried out desperately when she went to let go, his little fists clinging to her combat gear. Chuck's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up.

"Okay, okay. I'll just hold you," Sarah mumbled as she awkwardly climbed into the van while balancing Danny, finally settling the child on her lap as she sat next to Chuck. Guess the don't-put-me-down-or-I'll-cry rule also applied to the car. Duly noted.

"Man, here I was complaining when I really don't have anything to complain about at all, do I?" Chuck mused.

"Never stopped you before," quipped Casey, climbing into the driver's seat as Chuck gave him a glare.

"No really, here I am thinking about myself when there's a poor kid right in front of me who has lost everything." Chuck's gaze lingered on the little blonde head shifting against Sarah, his face not visible but pressed against her chest. He placed a reassuring hand on the child's head and patted his back as he looked at him sadly.

Danny's body tensed at the unexpected touch but quickly relaxed against Sarah, and she was grateful that he didn't launch into a new round of tears as Casey started up the van and pulled out into the dark night.

Chuck filled the silence like he always did, rambling on about Morgan and his newest misadventure, and Sarah began to let herself relax. His voice soothed her, the familiar cadence and tone playing in her ears while she half-listened, his voice slowly melting away her Agent Walker persona until only Sarah remained. She laughed softly at Morgan's antics, her eyes warm as she watched Chuck. He smiled widely at her. When she glanced at the rearview mirror, she saw Casey gritting his teeth, but for whatever reason the agent held back his usual insults. Chuck seemed to notice as well, exchanging a knowing look with her and letting his voice drift off. After all, Casey should be rewarded for good behavior.

Sarah tilted her head to look at the face of the child in her arms, finding him fast asleep, peaceful at last. She shifted to make herself more comfortable, accidentally brushing Chuck's knee with her own. She suppressed the jolt her body instinctively wanted to make, but she couldn't stop her eyes from flicking up to Chuck's face or her breath from catching in her throat as their eyes met. It was these unexpected moments she found hardest to resist, when the electricity coursed between them and she found herself trapped with her guard down. Sarah's lips parted slightly as she stared at him, belatedly noticing his hand reaching out towards hers.

At the last second she managed to yank her gaze to the floor, watching out of the corner of her eye as Chuck sighed and turned to look out the window, his hurt reflected in the glass. Now on top of her racing heart she felt guilt for giving him hope of something that could never be. Her job was the one thing she had in life, and she could not afford to lose it. If only he were awful or annoying or even repulsive, then she wouldn't have any trouble staying professional with her asset. But he was Chuck. Warm and open, trusting and innocent, always looking at her with those big brown eyes that showed his admiration and respect for her, always unable to hide his feelings. That innocence crumbed her carefully constructed walls and disarmed her better than any weapons showdown. She squeezed her eyes shut, swallowing her sigh, and thanked the darkness for hiding the aborted moment from Casey.

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><p>After a sleeping Danny was handed off to the medical team that met Team Bartowski at Castle, Casey headed to the armory to clean and put away the firepower, leaving Chuck and Sarah alone. Sarah looked more worn out than usual as she dropped into one of the chairs, and Chuck couldn't help wondering if whatever he had seen flash across her face at the safe house was weighing on her. Familiar desires washed over him. He wanted to ask, wanted to be privy to her thoughts, wanted to know the girl underneath the agent. Wanted most of all to give her a hug and hold her as they fell asleep. But none of that was allowed, so he settled on a simple question, the best he could do.<p>

"Sarah, is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, Chuck." She responded automatically, smiling at him, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

Chuck stared at her, knowing the opposite was true. But he had no clue how to make his spy talk, so he let out a breath and changed the subject. "Okay…well, I forgot to tell you yesterday, but Ellie and Awesome's shifts got changed to overnights at the hospital, so we can blow off the scheduled cover date. Unless, you know, you think we need to protect our cover by still going out…together…" he trailed off, trying his best not to sound too hopeful.

She raised her eyes to meet his and lingered there, pausing just a little too long. He thought for a moment she might agree, but then she cleared her throat and looked away, and he felt a dull pang in his chest.

"Oh, uh, no. If Ellie and Awesome aren't going then we don't need to go through with it. That'll give me time to catch up on paperwork."

"Right…paperwork. Putting the ol' nose to the grindstone." He tapped his nose and gave her a big grin to hide his disappointment, earning a small smile in return as she looked up at him through her lashes. It was the beginning of a real smile, unlike what she had given him before. Real smiles counted as little victories in his book, tally marks next to successful attempts to make her laugh and the discovery of her dislike of olives and penchant for extra pickles, hard earned insights into the beautiful enigma who crept into his thoughts and wrecked havoc on his hopes. He took a deep breath to clear his head and tore his gaze away from her as he walked away.

* * *

><p>With Chuck attempting more advanced tech magic on the destroyed hard drive and Casey sending a message alerting the General to Danny's presence, Sarah was finally all alone. She sighed and let her body slump in the chair, leaning on the table and propping her head up on her elbow as she evaluated her plan for the day. It appeared she wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight as it was nearly morning and she still had the mission reports to finish. Nights without sleep always left her feeling slightly queasy, and the thought of another day at the Orange Orange left her secretly seething. Despite the sign declaring yogurt and fun, the yogurt smell was no fun at all, the sickening sweetness making her stomach churn all the more.<p>

The thought of food made her mind drift to the night's cancelled date with Awesome and Ellie. The plan had been to meet at a new restaurant, a little bistro that had opened just a few miles from the Buy More Plaza. A ripple of disappointment washed over her, and she frowned. _Cover date_, she quickly clarified, telling herself that her disappointment was solely due to the missed opportunity to solidify the cover. After a lifetime of cons and missions, Sarah Walker was nothing if not good at instructing her head what to believe. It was her heart that stumbled, didn't take direction well, and rarely stayed in the car.

A loud cry broke her introspective moment, a child screaming and sobbing. Danny. The medical exam shouldn't cause this much distress and Sarah was immediately on her feet, arriving in the room at the same time as Chuck.

"Oh, good, Agent Carmichael, Agent Walker!" The doctors and nurses held the little boy down as he thrashed and wailed. "The child awoke during the examination and began to panic at his unfamiliar surroundings. I'm told you were both there shortly after the rescue. He may calm in your presence if he remembers you."

Sarah hesitated, but Chuck jumped in, always unable to sit idly by while another suffered.

"Sure, we can try!"

Sarah watched from ten steps away as the doctor placed the child into Chuck's arms, but Danny fought and sobbed, his little body shaking with the effort. Chuck tried to rub his back but the child continued to panic and refused to be calmed.

"Sarah, here. See if you can calm him down!" Chuck moved closer to her but Sarah shrunk away.

The screaming child made her heart beat fast, and she felt completely out of her element. She was a spy. She could handle out of control adults, even teenagers, no problem. You could outsmart them, threaten them, overpower them, force them to comply with your wishes. But children? Her extensive training provided no help in this arena. She didn't know the first thing about children. And more importantly, she had no idea how to make the incessant screaming stop!

"Why _me_?" she asked incredulously, her hands rising defensively in front of her body.

"I don't know, you smell like a mom?" Chuck's voice rang out over the screaming, and he shrugged, holding the wailing child out towards her. Sarah stared daggers at him, eyes wide with shock. "Well, not a mom, that's not what I meant! Haha, no, no, no," Chuck backtracked, rambling in haste. "Like a woman! Yeah, you smell like a woman. And…and women can be mothers! And uh...oh just take the kid, Sarah! It worked when you held him before!"

She glared at Chuck as she grabbed the screaming child under the arms, pulling him to her chest, his legs dangling. His screaming subsided almost immediately, but he continued to sob, his body limp in her arms. He slipped a little, and she awkwardly tried to find a way to hold him more securely, attempting to hoist him further up into her arms.

"Use your hip," Chuck suggested.

"Huh?"

"You know, prop him on your hip." Chuck mimed holding the child to his side.

Sarah gave Chuck a questioning look but shifted the child. His body conformed to her side, legs around her waist and head on her shoulder. Hmm, that did work better.

"Right. Uh…thanks." Danny buried his face in her neck as his sobs died down to hiccups, his hand clutching her shirt once again.

Sarah breathed a sigh of relief at the quiet while Chuck beamed. "See, what did I tell you! I knew he would calm down for you."

Sarah gave him a half smile in return, feeling drained by the encounter, her heart still beating wildly. Her shirt was…damp. She really hoped that was just tears.

Danny sniffed loudly and messily wiped his nose on her shoulder. She let out a sigh through her nose.

_Gross. _

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><p><em>AN #2:_ I hope you enjoyed the second chapter, and please let me know what you think! I'm leaving on vacation in a couple days and will be gone for about a week, during which I won't have internet access. Therefore the third chapter will be a little longer in coming, but it's also shaping up to be significantly longer in length, so hopefully that will make up for it!


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N_: Here's the longer chapter, as promised! I had a great time on vacation, and I'm sadly trying to adjust to being in the real world again. I found it entirely too amusing that I actually _was_ in Vegas while the last episode aired, since the boys never made it, hehe.

I want to say thank you to all of you that are reading this! I'm sincerely touched by your comments and interest in my story. A big thank you goes out again to **NMH**, my awesome beta who has a fantastic eye for detail and who has been unfailingly positive and encouraging even when I whine about having to write a spy plot! Also, I owe several sincerely awesome people PM's (you know who you are), and you should expect them very soon, but first I thought I would distract all of you in one fell swoop with the new chapter. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or its characters. This is just for fun, and I'm not making any kind of profit—please don't sue.

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><p>Shortly after settling in Sarah's arms, Danny succumbed to exhaustion once again. The medical team had prepped a holding cell with a cot, blankets folded neatly at the foot of the bed. On a nearby chair sat a bag with a day's worth of clean clothes for Danny, and a car seat was propped against the chair leg. Sarah gently laid Danny's sleeping body down on the cot, apprehensive about moving too quickly and being faced with tears once again. In Sarah's mind, it was similar to navigating a live bomb, detonation point unknown, and her movements were as calculated and careful as if she was dealing with an explosive. She inched the blanket up around him, freezing as he shifted. But Danny remained asleep, and she breathed out a sigh of relief while Chuck configured the video feed to project into the outer room, crafting a makeshift baby monitor. Castle really did prove useful in so many situations.<p>

With Danny settled, Sarah could focus her attention on introducing her ruined shirt to its final resting place—the trashcan. She ducked into the closet of Castle, and the world seemed a little brighter after she slipped on a clean new shirt, her heart rate officially returning to normal.

Chuck had waited for her, and as they walked back into the main room together, she found him looking at her with one of those big, dopey grins on his face. Her brow furrowed.

"What?"

"I think he likes you."

Sarah frowned. "Yeah, I don't know what that's about."

Chuck's eyes locked with hers, his joking expression suddenly replaced with sincerity. "I do..." he said softly.

Her chest tightened of its own accord. He was just so adorable and persistent, nearly impossible to resist. His eyes were warm and hopeful as they looked into her own, always so hopeful. She saw a better version of herself reflected in those eyes, and she was becoming addicted to the idea, longing to be that person rather than her jaded self.

Casey entered the room, and Sarah startled, whipping her head to face him. He raised a judging eyebrow at her.

"Beckman wants a briefing. Now."

Oh, thank God.

Sarah was becoming less and less able to snap herself out of her daydreams, less good at convincing herself why it was a bad idea to launch herself at Chuck and kiss him, consequences be damned. But the fact that those consequences included not only her proximity to him but also his safety was the source of her conflict. Sarah was used to not getting what she wanted—not her childhood, not assignments, not a life that was real—but this was getting ridiculous, dangling just out of her reach day in and day out. It made her want to scream or hit things. And so she did, regularly pounding over and over again on her heavy bag until she was physically exhausted in an effort to tire her traitorous mind, though it spun on a mile a minute despite her efforts. Wasn't she supposed to be trained to control this? Everything about Chuck was professional suicide but her heart didn't seem to care. How could her heart and mind be in such a war over one nerdy guy? She shook her head to keep her conflicting emotions at bay and turned on her heel to face General Beckman.

* * *

><p>"Major Casey, Agent Walker, Mr. Bartowski. Enlighten me." The General's tone was icy. "How exactly is it that we are left with a<em> child<em> in place of any real leads to the location of the stolen bioweapon plans? I want answers. Now."

Sarah, Casey, and Chuck stood in front of the monitor as they underwent the verbal chastising. The medical team had been tasked to keep an eye on Danny during the briefing, and Sarah mentally weighed whether it was worse to be on the receiving end of Beckman's wrath or consoling a crying Danny. As the General was decidedly less tactile, she found she was partial to the wrath of the diminutive woman.

Casey launched into an explanation of the evening's events, interrupting Sarah's musings. "At the time of our arrival, the infiltrators had vacated the premises, and it remains unclear how they obtained the knowledge of the safe house's location. The video surveillance system had been hacked and disabled, while the computer storing the research plans was destroyed. The asset and his wife were found dead, single gunshot wounds to the head. It all points to a group trained to get in, get the job done, and get out. We're not dealing with amateurs here."

"Clearly," the General snapped, her eyes dark, and Sarah saw Casey clench his teeth.

General Beckman crossed the fingers of her hands together and focused her eyes on the team. "The asset in question, Dr. Walner, was a scientist who synthesized a novel chemical neurotoxin that has potential for use as a bioweapon. Three weeks ago, Dr. Walner published preliminary findings on the chemical's abilities, garnering our attention as well as that of many terrorist organizations. These enemy groups have no qualms about attaining the chemical by any means necessary, placing the life of Dr. Walner and his family in danger. In exchange for exclusive rights to the toxin, we were successful in recruiting Dr. Walner as an asset through the L.A. office by providing protection for him and his family as well as funding for his continued research."

Sarah shifted her weight and crossed her arms as the General continued.

"The computer accessed by the infiltrators held the instructions necessary to chemically manufacture the neurotoxin, and while the files are encrypted, it is only a matter of time before the encryption is broken. Assuming access to adequate laboratory facilities, with the formulas contained in those instructions the toxin can be synthesized within a few days time. We need to locate and stop whoever stole the plans before they manufacture the chemical. The neurotoxin in question is capable of causing widespread devastation to human populations, and although the agency's best scientists have been assigned to the task, a successful counteragent has yet to be developed. You should all consider the containment of the neurotoxin design to be your top priority."

General Beckman's face was grim. Her gaze ultimately landed on Sarah, and Sarah felt Chuck's eyes shift to her as well, although his gaze was decidedly less frigid.

"Additionally, we must discuss the asset's child, the sole witness to this crime. I'm conferencing in the Agency's leading child psychologist, Dr. Barrett." The General pressed a button on the panel in front of her, and the adjoining screen in Castle sprung to life with a woman's face, her brown hair pulled tightly back in a bun, nose adorned with a pair of black rimmed glasses. "Dr. Barrett has been briefed on the details of the mission as they relate to the child in question. Your assessment, Dr. Barrett?"

The psychologist adjusted her glasses. "Thank you, General. I've evaluated the child's health records and viewed video of the child's interactions within your facility. I understand that he has not yet spoken to anyone since he was found?"

"Yes, that is correct," Sarah answered, suppressing the urge to assert that his vocal cords were certainly in working order, the echo of his screams still ringing in her ears.

Dr. Barrett nodded in response. "Health records indicate that Daniel Walner was a normally developing three-year-old with age-appropriate verbal skills," Dr. Barrett said, looking down and shuffling through the papers in front of her as she spoke. "But following a trauma such as the boy faced, it is not uncommon for a child to exhibit temporary regression of their abilities." She looked up, making eye contact with Sarah. "Agent Walker, I'm told you were the one who found and rescued the child?"

Sarah nodded.

"As the one who provided safety and comfort after his loss of his parents, he is likely to feel more attached to you than any other figure," Dr. Barrett said, maintaining eye contact with Sarah. "Introducing new people into his life now will only serve to confuse and further traumatize the child, with the possibility of triggering him to completely block out the memories as a coping mechanism. Children of his age posses the ability to positively identify people and situations, but I cannot guarantee that Daniel will be able to perform this function given the extreme stress of the situation. He needs some semblance of stability now to recover from the trauma, and the best chance we have to get him speaking again is to make him feel as comfortable and safe as possible."

Dr. Barrett placed her forearms on the desk in front of her and leaned forward slightly. "When he does begin speaking, I will evaluate him in person and assess his knowledge of the incident in question. Until then, please keep me apprised of any changes or new developments in his behavior."

Sarah felt compelled to give her a brief nod, even as she fought to keep her face neutral at the decidedly terrifying thought of being responsible for the child.

"Thank you, Dr Barrett," the General said, pushing the button in front of her once again and cutting off any further response from the psychologist.

General Beckman scowled at the team once again. "Agent Walker, it appears the child must remain in your custody. Contact me immediately when he begins to communicate. Until that point, fulfill Dr. Barrett's recommendations and get whatever you need to provide him with a developmentally normal environment. The child's account is a shot in the dark at best, but frankly, is all we have at the moment. You should all do your best to change that."

The General paused for a moment, staring down the agents and asset. "Mr. Bartowski, go back through the video surveillance from prior to the attack and see if the intersect can provide any insight as to the identity of the group responsible. Major Casey, monitor the chatter for leads and set up a meeting this afternoon with the L.A. office to find out what the hell went wrong on their end. That is all."

Sarah relaxed her stiff posture but continued staring at the screen for several seconds after it switched to black. Guess she wouldn't be going into the Orange Orange today after all. The corners of her mouth tugged up the slightest bit at the thought, but quickly fell as a feeling of panic at the thought of caring for Danny came over her. Holding him at the safe house was one thing, but providing a "developmentally normal environment" was an entirely different ballgame. They didn't exactly teach Motherhood 101 at the Farm. What the hell was normal for a three-year old? She took a deep breath and turned to face Chuck, quirking an eyebrow. Just like nearly every time she looked at him, he smiled, and the familiar gesture made her feel a little better, though she mentally denied any connection between the two events.

Her moment of contemplation was short lived, however, as the door to the holding cell slid open, and a sobbing Danny ran out towards Sarah, a nurse two steps behind. He smacked into her shins and turned his tear stained face up towards her, bottom lip quivering. She sighed and reached down to lift him up. Casey grunted, raising that damn eyebrow at her again.

"Don't even start, Casey," Sarah warned, glaring as she walked past him through the doorway and caught a glimpse of Chuck, his arms crossed against his chest and amusement filling his features.

Making her way back to the holding cell, she noticed that Danny's little body felt chill against her own, and he shivered in her arms, pressing closer.

"Are you cold?" she asked, tilting her head to try and see his face.

He nodded into her neck. She sat him down on the cot and opened the bag of clothes, rifling through the items until she found a royal blue zippered sweatshirt. She handed it to Danny as the medical team left the room.

"Here you go." He looked down at the clothing in his lap and back up at her.

"Aren't you going to put it on?" She cocked her head expectantly.

His little fingers reached out to attempt the zipper, struggling to pull it down with both hands. Without holding the fabric of the sweatshirt steady, he made little downward progress on the zipper, his pulls causing the whole garment to shift.

Realization dawned on Sarah. "Oh…here, I can do it for you." She took the sweatshirt from his hands, deftly pulling the zipper down and helping him fit his arms through the sleeves. She zipped him up to his chin, and as an afterthought, pulled the hood up around his head as well, figuring that the more comforted he felt, the less likely he was to start crying all over again.

The eyes that looked up at her from under that hood held such pain, and it made Sarah's heart hurt to think about all he had lost tonight. Crouching in front on him, she gave him a weak smile, feeling compelled to do something, anything, to try to lessen his pain. Impulsively, she gave the strings of the sweatshirt a quick pull so that the hood scrunched around his face, leaving just his nose sticking out. Danny giggled, and she smiled wider. She'd take that over tears any day. Stretching the hood back out, she gave Danny a smile and busied herself adjusting the blonde curls that had escaped the hood's hold while Danny played with the strings of the sweatshirt.

She sighed and straightened up to her full height. "Well, it seems like you're stuck with me for a little while. I'll try not to screw up everything." She looked at him apologetically.

Danny said nothing, but his big brown eyes looked into hers, staring up at her from his position on the cot. It was the same way that Chuck looked at her, with longing and adoration and acceptance, and it left her with a heady feeling, full of warmth and the security of being needed. He raised his arms to be picked up, and Sarah lifted him into her arms once again, finding herself unable to disappoint those eyes that held such faith in her.

_Oh, God, not another one. _

She had to get a grip on herself. This was just another mission. Granted, it was an unconventional mission, but she was Sarah Walker. She'd quelled revolutions with forks and taken down terrorist cells singlehandedly. It couldn't be that hard to take care of a kid. Right?

* * *

><p>Sarah had just walked into the main room of Castle with Danny when his stomach rumbled. He looked down, poking his finger into his belly before looking up at Sarah.<p>

"Hungry?"

He nodded emphatically.

Sarah grabbed an apple from her bag. "This is healthy for kids, right?" She handed it to Danny.

"He can't eat that whole, Sarah!" Chuck laughed, taking the apple from the child's hands.

Her brow furrowed. "Oh…he can't?" she said slowly, frowning at the apple.

Chuck shook his head slightly at her, but he was smiling. "Hand me one of your knives."

Purely from force of habit, a denial slipped out of her mouth. "What knives?"

Chuck cocked his head defiantly. "Oh, you mean other than the ten I'm sure you have hidden on your person? And don't act like they're only for fighting—I remember a certain hamburger that was shared courtesy of those knives." He smirked at her playfully.

Sarah smiled despite herself, her heart soaring at the memory. That day had cemented in her mind just how different and special Chuck really was. And now he was staring at her with his eyebrows raised, wiggling his fingers, palm outstretched. _Oh, fine_. She reluctantly dislodged the knife tucked carefully at her lower back and handed it over.

"Now was that really so hard?" Chuck laughed as he proceeded to peel the apple and cut it into small slices, handing one to Danny. Holding the slice in his fist, Danny happily took a bite. Sarah just stared at Chuck. First the hip and now this. How the hell did he know these things?

"What's that look for?"

Sarah glanced down at Danny and then back at Chuck, the question clear in her eyes.

He sighed. "Oh, right…well…Ellie used to drag me along when she babysat. I guess I must have picked up a few things." He shrugged and handed Danny another apple slice.

Sarah raised an eyebrow at him.

"And to hear Ellie tell it, Morgan's really just a big child, and I've hung out with him for years, so there's always that…" He grinned at her, letting out a little chuckle.

Sarah smiled back at him. She refrained from telling Chuck that sometimes he reminded her of a child himself, with his curling hair and naïveté, playing his video games and relying on her and Casey. It wasn't meant to be an insult, although she knew he would take it as one. It was just that he managed to maintain his innocence even in the face of all the evils the world had to offer, and Sarah hadn't had any semblance of innocence herself since she was a small child.

With his loving sister, kind heart, and loyal friends, Chuck represented so much about what was good and true in life, and given her own depraved background, Sarah couldn't help but be drawn to that about him. His heart didn't seem to harden from the things he experienced, unlike hers, and somehow just being with him melted her icy coating away. He made her want to remember who she was as a child, before everything changed. And, she was loathe to admit, that made her want to cry, which is frankly why she hardened her heart and didn't think about those things. Because Sarah Walker didn't cry. Tear up, maybe, if her guard was down. But bawl? Never. There was just too much hurt buried deep inside, and she didn't trust her ability to let even a little out without it all bursting through the floodgates.

Sarah took a deep breath to dispel those treacherous thoughts, hardening her heart so she could focus on her new mission. And the fact that she had absolutely no idea how to complete it.

She looked over at Chuck. "So, about this 'developmentally normal environment' for a three-year-old…" she trailed off, hoping Chuck would jump in.

He laughed. "Well, I'm no expert, but first things first: I'm pretty sure it doesn't include spending any more time in Castle. Let's head back to my house." He glanced down at his watch. "Ellie and Awesome should already have left early this morning for their shifts, so we should have the place to ourselves for the rest of the day."

"Okay, that sounds good." Better than hanging around here all alone with the kid, anyway.

"Great!" He gave her a big grin. "I'll just go grab the bag of clothes and the car seat, and we can head on over."

* * *

><p>Once in the morning sun of the parking lot, they had quickly ruled out taking Sarah's Porsche, but it still took a significant amount of wrestling to set up the car seat in the Nerd Herder. Well, Chuck had done a significant amount of wrestling. Sarah had just stood next to the car, holding Danny and looking over at the Buy More, where she would have sworn she caught a glimpse of Chuck's creepy coworkers staring out at them.<p>

"Chuck, we're going to need a cover for Danny. I have a feeling your co-workers are already talking about us…"

Chuck's entire upper body was leaning into the back of the car as he pulled the seatbelt through the car seat. He popped his head back out and squinted at the Buy More.

"I really wouldn't be surprised. They do fancy themselves to have superior spying skills, you know." He rolled his eyes and ducked back in the car. Sarah heard the click of the seatbelt connecting, and then Chuck emerged again, a huge grin on his face.

"All done!" He pointed at the seat and she smiled, shifting Danny to her hip and glancing at the Buy More out of the corner of her eye before leaning up to place a brief kiss on his lips.

She'd steeled herself against the tingles that blossomed where his lips touched hers and the flood of desire that always washed over her when their lips met, but her heart rate still shot up, leaving her just a tad lightheaded. As she pulled away, Chuck's eyes were wide with surprise.

"For the cover," she whispered into his ear as she leaned her side against his chest, willing her heartbeat to return to normal. "Put your arm around me."

Quickly following her directions, he cleared his throat, and Sarah didn't bother to suppress the smile spreading across her face.

He shook his head slightly and blinked several times before he began talking. "Right. So, uh, speaking of covers. Like you said, we need one for Danny. How about he's your cousin's kid, and she had an emergency, so you have to take care of him?"

"I think that'll work, though we'll need to fill in some more details later," she said as she leaned down, placing Danny in the car seat and attempting to buckle him in. There were a confusing number of belts and fasteners, and she was completely lost as she tried to cross one strap over the other.

Chuck gently pushed her hands away and snapped everything together, but as he went to shut the door Danny started whimpering, pulling at the straps across his body.

Chuck hesitated. "Sarah, maybe you should ride in the back with him…" He gave her an apologetic look.

She sighed but stepped around the car and climbed into the backseat next to Danny. He kept whimpering, eyes brimming with tears, and Sarah's body was tense in anticipation of his cries as she leaned towards him. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm right here. Please don't cry." _Please._ She hesitantly brushed her fingertips across his cheek and through the curls at his brow, but he continued to fuss as Chuck started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

She glanced helplessly at Chuck and wracked her brain, trying to think of ways to calm him. Suddenly, she had an idea.

"Remember?" she asked as she lightly tugged the strings of his hoodie, the fabric scrunching to leave just his nose sticking out once again.

The fussing stopped abruptly, and she gently pulled the hood back open, finding just a hint of a smile on his face. Sarah smiled encouragingly at him in return. Danny's hands reached for the strings, and he pulled them back down, the material hiding his eyes once again. Reaching up to his face, his little hands pushed at the material until he could see her again, and then he laughed. It was a wonderful sound, filling her with relief and even a hint of pride at creating this reaction in him in place of the mind-numbing tears. She grinned, and he giggled some more, pulling the strings tight once again.

As Chuck stopped at a red light, he turned his head around to peer into the backseat. He raised his eyebrows and beamed at Sarah, and she shrugged, smiling in relief back at him. Distraction apparently worked as well with kids as it did on marks, and she filed that information away for future reference.

* * *

><p>The rest of the car ride had lulled Danny to sleep once again, leaving Sarah pondering just how much time this child actually spent sleeping. Not that she wasn't grateful for the peace and quiet; it just surprised her how often he seemed to be asleep. Although, after being up all night and facing such a horrible trauma, Sarah couldn't blame him for wanting to curl into a ball and block out the world. She frankly wouldn't scoff at the chance herself.<p>

It had been a full five minutes since they'd arrived in the parking lot, but Chuck and Sarah were still standing next to each other with the back door of the car open, peering into the backseat where Danny slept. Neither had made any attempt to move the child, feeling reluctant to disturb him and risk setting off the waterworks once again. Chuck glanced at Sarah and then slowly reached out a hand and unbuckled the straps of the car seat. Sarah held her breath as he withdrew his hand ever so carefully and shifted to stand next to her once again as they continued to peer at Danny's sleeping form.

Sarah turned to face Chuck, her voice hopeful as she spoke. "Aren't you going to get him out of the car?"

Chuck scoffed. "Nah, that's all you. You know if he wakes up he'll freak out if anyone but you is holding him."

Sarah pursed her lips but couldn't think of a valid counter argument to that statement. Sighing, she situated her hands around him as gently as she could, scrunching her face up as she slowly lifted him out of the seat. Chuck's hand shot out from behind her shoulder and settled on Danny's head, preventing the child from smacking into the door frame as Sarah pulled him out of the car. She gave Chuck a thankful look as she settled Danny in her arms, his head on her shoulder, body heavy with sleep.

Chuck and Sarah both froze, staring at Danny for signs of movement, but he didn't stir. Chuck winked at her, a wide smile appearing on his face, and she had to bite the inside of her lip hard to keep the flutter rising in her chest at bay. She turned away and started slowly walking towards the house in order to catch her breath.

"So," Chuck began in a whisper as they walked through the courtyard. "Given that we are off the hook for other missions right now, and the meeting with the L.A. office isn't until this afternoon, I'm thinking that we should maybe follow Danny's lead and take a mid-morning nap." Opening the door, he motioned her inside. "You and Danny can take my bed, and I'll sleep on the couch."

"Chuck, you don't have to—" Sarah tried to protest but a pesky, unwelcome yawn interrupted her, the stress of dealing with Danny clearly taking its toll. She wagered a sheepish look at Chuck and found him smiling at her knowingly.

He pointed towards the bedroom. "Go. Sleep. You've been up all night. We'll figure out what to do about everything when we wake up. The world will make more sense then, I promise. It's worked for me and Ellie for years. Tried and true Bartowski wisdom right there." His eyes sparkled and made it impossible for her to focus long enough to think of an excuse.

Soon she was nodding her head and following Chuck into the bedroom. She felt a twinge of guilt at the comfort she experienced when Chuck had used "we" when he spoke about figuring out what to do, but the idea that she wouldn't be alone in dealing with Danny made the situation feel significantly less dire.

She carefully laid Danny down on the bed, still wary of waking him, and Chuck placed a pillow between him and the far edge.

"So he won't roll off in his sleep," he supplied in response to Sarah's questioning look.

Sarah gave a nod of understanding, breathing out through her nose.

On his way to living room, Chuck paused in the doorway, turning to give her a soft smile. "Sleep well," he whispered as he pulled the door shut.

Sarah slowly took a deep breath and let it out, running a hand through her hair, and looking down for a moment before toeing off her shoes and climbing into bed next to Danny. Careful to leave a wide margin between her and the child, she willed her body to relax, staring at the ceiling. As she lay in Chuck's bed, it was excruciatingly obvious to her just how wrong and yet how right it felt. With his scent from the pillow filling her nostrils and her eyes drifting to the Tron poster adorning his wall, the yearning in her heart was painfully stark. Every cover kiss, every longing look made her burn and ache for him a little more.

_For her asset_.

She squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. This was _not_ okay. She lifted her hand to her face and covered her eyes. She needed emotional distance, and she needed it now. Mustering up her sleep training from the Farm, she turned off her mind and fell asleep.

* * *

><p><em>AN #2_: Hope you enjoyed the new installment, and please let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N_: Hi there! I know it's been a while, and I apologize. I guess I needed a summer break from fanfiction? lol In any case, I have the outline for this entire story mapped out and written down, and while I can't promise how quickly the updates will be up, rest assured that I definitely plan to see it through to the end! Thank you so much to all of you that have read this story, and I appreciate every one of your reviews, alerts, and favorites! A huge thank you also to my lovely beta/cheerleader **NMH**, who always keeps my sentences in line, catches all kinds of things I miss, and gives stellar compliments. I couldn't do it without you, dear!

I hope you enjoy the new chapter! It's the longest yet :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or its characters, or any character from Alias I may have borrowed. Other things that are not mine? Pull-ups, Spider-Man, and Nerf. This is just for fun, and I'm not making any kind of profit—please don't sue.

* * *

><p>Sarah awoke feeling warm and comfortable, sunlight streaming across her face. She scrunched her eyes closed tight against the brightness and stretched her arms slightly before unconsciously tightening them around the warm thing at her chest.<p>

It moved.

Her eyes shot open, quickly taking in her surroundings, her heartbeat picking up speed. Chuck's room. Daylight. Small child…

Danny.

She let out a breath. He had clearly migrated towards her in his sleep, probably thinking she was his mother. How very far from the truth _that _was. Nonetheless, Sarah felt sorry for this little boy who had lost his parents and was now alone in the world. She certainly knew how it felt to be left on your own, though she was older when the fate had been bestowed upon her. Danny was just a baby. She hoped for his sake that he didn't understand what had happened yet, but in her heart she knew that wasn't the case.

An aching feeling swelled in her chest, and after everything the child had been through, she felt it was the least she could do to lay there and not disturb his sleep. She willed herself to remain still, listening to the gentle rise and fall of his breath. He shifted and nuzzled closer to her, pressing into her chest as he slept, and Sarah immediately froze and stiffened. But Danny's breathing kept a steady rhythm against her chest, and his warm presence slowly began to relax her. This really wasn't so bad after all, this…cuddling, she guessed it was.

She looked down at him, her fingers reaching up to brush an errant curl off his forehead. It was soft and silky and baby fine, as blonde as her own color, perhaps even lighter. As the curl wrapped around her finger, she couldn't help but think of the man sleeping on the couch, whose curls so often preoccupied her thoughts. Her fingers spent utterly too much time itching to comb through his funny animal shapes, but she never allowed herself more than the occasional adjustment of a curl around his face. She was capable of finding some distance from hand-holding, kisses, and hugs through her seduction training, but it felt wrong somehow to fulfill her intimately real desire to tangle her fingers in Chuck's hair just to maintain the cover, even though the fact that she craved a private touch with Chuck struck fear into her heart. Sarah let the blonde curl slip from her fingers, swallowing down the worry prickling in her chest.

Danny chose that moment to flip over in his sleep, and suddenly an arm was flung into her face, smacking her directly on the nose.

"Ow!"

Blinking her eyes at the burning pain in her sinuses, she clamped down on her body's honed reaction to retaliate. _Congratulations Danny, _she thought as the pain began to fade,_ you are the first person to ever hit Sarah Walker in the face and not get hurt worse in return_.

Cuddle time was over.

Fortunately, Danny's thrashing appeared to be a sign of his awakening, as his eyelashes began to flutter. His nose scrunched up as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes and squinted at Sarah. They stared at each for a few moments, unmoving.

It was not unlike the awkward morning-after moment that plagues one night stands, and Sarah fumbled for something to say. "Um, did you sleep well?" she asked quietly.

Danny reached up with the back of his hand and rubbed in a completely uncoordinated motion at his eyes and nose, his head shifting on the pillow.

Sarah gave a small smile and tapped him gently on the tip of his nose with her finger. He giggled and moved closer to her.

"Okay, let's go see if Chuck is awake."

She sat up and helped Danny off the bed. Still sleepy from the nap and looking rather disoriented, Danny stayed where she placed him on the ground and looked up at her as she stood. He reached up his hand and grasped her fingers with his own, and Sarah marveled at the innocent way that he asked for exactly what he needed, without any shame or hesitation. She held in a smile as she moved her hand to hold his properly, running her other hand through her hair to smooth it before she opened the door.

As they walked into the living room, Sarah watched Danny's head shift around, his eyes beginning to take in his new surroundings. She spotted Chuck and walked into the kitchen to join him, Danny trailing a step behind. He let go of her hand in favor of half-hiding behind, half-hugging her leg when she stopped in the center of the kitchen.

"Hey, Chuck. Sleep well?" she said to Chuck's back as he faced the counter.

He turned around, smiling at her. "Yep, just woke up a little while ago." He smiled down at Danny as well, who promptly turned his face into Sarah's leg. "Thought I'd make us some lunch…"

She smiled at him. "What's on the menu?" She tried to peer over his shoulder to the counter.

He laughed. "Nothing special, just peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Usually a crowd pleaser with those under the age of ten and also about the extent of my cooking repertoire." He shrugged a shoulder, turning back to his preparations.

"Right." As a rule, Sarah spent as little time as possible thinking about her own childhood, but now that Chuck mentioned it, she did remember eating a lot of those sandwiches as a kid. "I haven't had one in years," she admitted.

"Well today's your lucky day!" He shot a smile at her over his shoulder and grabbed the plates with flourish.

Sarah took one look at the plates and couldn't stifle the laugh that bubbled up.

He frowned. "What?"

"Chuck…you cut the crusts off. And made little triangles. On _all_ the sandwiches."

"Of course! I am a connoisseur of the peanut butter and jelly." He winked at her. "Don't lie—this is totally how you wanted your sandwich as a kid, whether or not this is how it ended up in your lunchbox." He raised an eyebrow at her, daring her to disagree.

"Okay, I can see why you did it for Danny, but ours, Chuck?" Sarah held in another laugh only by pressing her fingers against her lips.

"Tastes better this way, and you know it!" He jokingly called over his shoulder as he headed towards the table.

She followed, absently lifting Danny to sit on a chair, but her eyes were focused on Chuck as he moved. When he turned from placing the plates on the table and laughed, Sarah cocked her head, entirely unsure of what was suddenly funny. She turned her head towards where he was pointing to find Danny's hands reaching up to clutch the edge of the table from his seat, just his eyes and forehead peeking over the tabletop.

Even Sarah had to smile at the sight of his wide eyes looking over the table, framed by the messy, nap-rumpled blonde curls around his face. A warmth rose in her chest that she had no name for and refused to acknowledge.

"Looks like that won't quite work for lunch. We can just eat in the kitchen today," Chuck said, smiling while gesturing with his head for Sarah to follow as he gathered the plates.

Sarah picked Danny up off the chair and brought him into the kitchen, holding him for a moment before deciding to set him on the counter, his legs dangling off the edge. Danny happily accepted the triangle of sandwich that he was handed by Chuck, his feet banging out a rhythm on the cabinets as he took a bite. Chuck handed a triangle to Sarah as well with mock flourish, and she smiled as she bit into the corner. She let her eyes trace over him as he stood, hip leaning against the counter casually but within grabbing distance of Danny. His clothes were slightly wrinkled from the nap, and he wore a lazy grin as he ate his own sandwich.

Sarah drank in how relaxed and comfortable he looked as she finished her triangle and reached for another. As she swallowed she caught sight of Danny and nearly choked, her eyes going wide. She was sure Danny was currently wearing more food across his hands and face than had entered his mouth. She would never have thought it possible for a piece of a sandwich to produce that big of a mess, staring wide-eyed at the peanut butter smeared across his cheeks and errant blob of jelly clinging near his nose.

Danny lifted his head to look at Sarah and held out his arms, making grabby hands at her with his sticky fingers.

Sarah just stared, her feet frozen. There was no way she was taking a single step towards _that_.

Chuck's laughter jolted her out of her trance, but by the time she turned her wide eyes towards him, he was already in motion.

"Just a sec, buddy."

Danny's hands remained outstretched as his eyes shifted to watch Chuck pull a dish towel out of a drawer and run it under the tap, squeezing out the excess. Danny frowned as Chuck captured one of his little hands with the towel, wiping away the stickiness before doing the same to the other hand. He went for Danny's face, but Danny pulled away with a small whimper, scrunching his eyes closed.

"Hey, hey, come here. It'll just take a sec," he soothed as he titled Danny's chin up and deftly wiped the sides of his face, folding the sticky pieces of towel in on themselves before using the clean end to pat Danny's face dry.

"See? All done." Chuck plopped the towel on the counter and picked Danny up, promptly depositing him in Sarah's arms despite the perplexed look that remained on her face. She'd seamlessly moved from being dumbfounded by Danny to being baffled by Chuck's ability to swoop in and handle the situation. Chuck was pulling out the kid skills left and right, and Sarah was suddenly struck by the extent of her inadequacy when it came to dealing with a child. A surge of gratefulness that Chuck was here washed over her.

"Thanks, Chuck," she said quietly, hoping that he knew she was thanking him for much more than just this moment.

He simply smiled at her, returning to his previous position leaning against the counter.

"So, before we do this again," he gestured haphazardly at the food, "we're gonna need some kind of booster seat for Danny to sit at the table. And also probably some more clothes. And, you know, uh, toys." There was a glint in his eye as that easy smile of his graced his features. "So I can't believe I'm saying this, but unless the CIA keeps a secret stash of kid gear, we need to go shopping." He grimaced slightly, but Sarah could tell it was mostly for show.

She shrugged. "Beckman said to take care of it, so I guess we can put it towards mission expenses. Lead the way, Chuck. Time to put those baby-sitting skills to good use." She smirked.

"It was Ellie! Ellie was the babysitter! I just got dragged along…" he mock glared at her.

She smiled and tilted her head towards the door. "Go get the car, Chuck."

* * *

><p>Danny had his head curled into the crook of Sarah's shoulder as she walked inside the entrance of the large store, squinting into the glare of the overly polished floors. Rolling a red cart to a stop beside her, Chuck pulled a list out of his pocket and leaned his elbows on the handle, holding the paper so that Sarah could see as well. Eyes scanning the list, Sarah simultaneously cursed Chuck for how long it was and blessed him for making one, not to mention knowing what to put on it.<p>

He looked up at Sarah from where he leaned against the cart. "So, what do you want to get first?"

Taking a deep breath, Sarah berated herself for feeling overwhelmed. This was just shopping. She'd shopped a million times, and there was no reason why she should lose her cool now.

Her roaming eyes alit on clothes, and she latched on like it was a lifeline.

"Let's start with clothes," she said, attempting to hide the relief at something relatively familiar. Who hadn't shopped for clothes before? She could _do_ clothes. "Check the tag in his shirt and tell me what size he is."

Chuck flipped the collar of Danny's shirt and tilted his head to read the tag. "It says…3T."

"3…T?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm." Sarah frowned as they followed the overhead signs to the kids department. She racked her brain for the meaning of the "T" but came up empty, and just hoped she'd find other clothes labeled that way.

As they rounded the corner, Sarah noticed Danny perk up at the sight of a t-shirt with a red fire engine on the front. Sure enough, when she shifted through the hangers on the rack, she found one that said 3T. She pulled it out and showed it to Danny, who reached his hand out to touch the truck and smiled.

"Okay, one down." Sarah handed Chuck the hanger. "Number one rule of shopping: the man holds everything," she said as she turned back to the rack again.

Chuck rolled his eyes but dutifully held the shirt. "I _have_ had girlfriends before, and I _do_ have a sister, you know. This isn't my first time."

Sarah smirked. "Stay close."

She picked out a few Danny-approved striped shirts, an adorably small navy polo, and a green sweater that she thought would look nice with his blonde hair, shooting down Chuck's suggestion of a shirt with some kind of pants wearing sponge on it. She didn't care how popular it was, that was just stupid.

She could not say no, however, to the Spider-Man footie pajamas after witnessing the pure joy that vibrated through Danny's body when he saw them, and the hopeful eyes that he turned towards her. As she picked out socks, she even impulsively grabbed a pack of Spider-Man underpants just to see Danny's face light up again in that way that chased the pain out of his eyes.

Moving onto the rack of jeans and shorts, she couldn't help but smile at how little they were, with their tiny pockets that would fit next to nothing. She wasn't the type of girl who used the word cute, but even she had to admit that kids' clothing fit the bill. It was the little shoes that really won her heart though.

Danny's face was priceless when Chuck showed him how his shoes could match Chuck's own, and Danny insisted very effectively through a series of grabbing hands and pouting lips that he wanted to wear the red pair _right now_, whether they'd paid for them or not.

_Anything but tears_, thought Sarah as she knelt to lace the little shoes onto his feet while he sat on a bench at the end of the aisle. Danny took a celebratory bounce and a few happy steps, before turning around and rushing back to her, clutching her leg like he worried she might have disappeared with his back turned. Sarah picked him up again, smoothing her hand up his back in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. He placed his head on her shoulder, still staring at the shoes and kicking them every once in a while, a gentle smile gracing his face.

Sarah shifted her attention back to shopping, mentally cataloguing the clothes they'd picked out to see if they'd missed anything. She internally cringed as a memory from Castle hit her.

"So, Chuck? There was also a diaper in that bag of clothes they provided for Danny. I guess Danny needs those too?"

Danny's let out a little snort through his nose, and when Sarah looked at him she found his eyebrows furrowed and his bottom lip trembling. He squirmed in her arms, trying to pull away.

Sarah was completely bewildered by his sudden change in demeanor, staring at Danny until Chuck's rushed voice forced her to turn her head.

"No, Sarah. Not diapers. Danny's a big kid. He doesn't wear diapers. Pull-ups, right buddy? Just for nighttime?" Danny nodded, and Chuck leaned in to ruffle his hair and discreetly whisper in Sarah's ear. "Diapers are just for babies."

Well damn, how the hell was she supposed to know that? Danny looked at her, the hurt expression still on his face, and squirmed to be let down. Sarah raised her eyebrows but complied.

Chuck took Danny's hand and spoke to him. "I can help you pick out the pull-ups that big kids wear. I bet we can find some really cool ones." He smiled at Danny, and then shot Sarah a smile over the top of Danny's head.

They walked off, leaving a baffled and incredulous Sarah in their wake. She raised her eyebrows and blinked before grabbing the cart and following behind them.

Danny let himself be led by Chuck but turned his head back several times to find Sarah, seemingly checking that she was still following. She smiled at him each time, but didn't get a response in return.

They reached the aisle housing diapers and the like along with an assortment of other baby goods. Sarah was confused on what role she was supposed to be playing here and hung back, but eventually settled on making it clear she was there, while not actively participating. She turned to face the shelves on the opposite side of the aisle, pretending to be busy, and abruptly found herself face to face with an assortment of breast pumps and rubber nipples. She reeled back in surprise, spinning away so quickly it was fully possible she had whiplash. Her heart rate had shot up, and she forced herself to take deep breaths, swearing up and down that she had no idea what ever possessed women to be excited about all this kid business.

Luckily, Chuck and Danny were approaching the cart with a package. Sarah surreptitiously eyed the name on the packaging and confirmed that she had in fact not misheard Chuck when he said "Pull-Ups" before. She hoped she was in the clear after the diaper mishap, but Danny still hovered a small distance from Chuck's leg rather than coming over to her, just kind of standing there looking adorably out of place. Sarah sighed and sent a helpless look at Chuck.

His face pinched, clearing holding in laughter. "I think you need to apologize," he managed after sucking in a deep breath.

Sarah pointed at the Pull-Ups package. "Aren't these basically the same thing as diapers? I don't understand what the big deal is," she said, keeping her voice low.

Chuck leaned in, his hand gently caressing her elbow, and matched her volume as he patiently explained, "Diapers are for actual babies. These they can pull up and down themselves, like underwear. At this age, they just want to be big kids. You made him feel like a baby. His feelings are hurt, Sarah."

Great, now she felt guilty for mistakes she hadn't even realized she was making. Especially since she had legitimately considered Danny to be a baby. Apparently there were a lot of designations she was missing between baby and teenager.

Chuck gestured insistently with his head towards Danny, and Sarah slowly lowered herself into a crouch so that she was at Danny's level, glancing up at Chuck. He gave her a quick nod.

"I'm sorry, Danny. I know you're not a baby. You're a little boy—"

Chuck coughed and raised his eyebrows, giving her a pointed look.

"—big boy?"

Chuck nodded.

"You're a big boy. I can definitely see that. I just didn't know about the Pull-Ups. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?"

Danny turned his big eyes towards her and nodded, holding his arms out to her. She never thought she'd be grateful that he wanted to be held again, but she felt relieved. He leaned up and nuzzled his nose into her cheek before resting his head on her shoulder and tangling his fingers absently around a section of her hair. Sarah's eyes widened and shot towards Chuck, who just laughed.

"Thanks," she said quietly to Danny, feeling embarrassed by his display of affection.

"So...you want to go look at toys now?" she suggested, not above bribery to cement his forgiveness.

Chuck's smile and nod were at least as enthusiastic as Danny's, and Sarah rolled her eyes with a little smile. Letting out a breath through her nose and squaring her shoulders, she headed off in the direction of the toy department.

Ten matchbox cars, including an all-important red fire truck, one stuffed rhinoceros, a bucket with matching shovel, an assortment of Nerf balls, four superhero action figures of the Spider-Man variety, one rubber ducky, three children's books, a pack of construction paper plus box of crayons, and an inflatable kiddie pool later, and Sarah found herself blinking into the sunlight as she and Chuck loaded the bags into the car. In addition to the new clothes, they'd also picked up the required booster seat, a set of child sized dishes and utensils, several sippy cups, and a ridiculously soft, fuzzy blanket, light blue on one side and cream on the other. The blanket was so irresistible that Sarah had spent their time in the checkout line absentmindedly rubbing her fingers across a corner, but even the softest blanket in the world couldn't sway her from the fact that she_ never _wanted to do this kind of shopping trip again. She was exhausted.

Checking her watch, she sighed as she calculated that they had barely enough time to get back to Chuck's and change before they'd have to leave for the meeting. She needed coffee if she was going to get through this day. Immediately, if possible.

"Chuck?" she called towards the front seat. "We need to make one more stop."

* * *

><p>Sarah's heels clicked across the polished floor of the L.A. headquarters building as she walked confidently towards the security check. If the level of intimidation her stride usually produced had taken a hit by the presence of the three-year-old slung across her hip, so be it. Agent Sarah Walker had enough of a name here that her reputation would barely suffer a dent. She hoped.<p>

She'd changed into a suit and had her badge clipped to the edge of her jacket, ready for easy access. Unfortunately, with Danny in tow, her usual pass through security with little more than an electronic swipe was not going to fly. Chuck was also dressed in a suit to match his cover as Agent Carmichael, leaving Danny looking woefully out of place in his blue hoodie and bright red shoes, as if he didn't stick out enough just by being a child.

An attempt on the guard's part to take custody of the action figure Danny held in his hand was effectively thwarted by the elevation of a single eyebrow and a pointed sigh on Sarah's part, and the trio found themselves in the elevator.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened into a large atrium, full of desks and bodies in motion, bustling about with an air of importance. Sarah saw Chuck's eyes widen, and she prayed he could pull off the role of a seasoned agent. "This way, Agent Carmichael," she said, purposefully using his cover name in an effort to snap him out of the awed daze that ruined the image.

Sure enough, his back straightened and that slightly cocky smile showed up on his face that proved he'd slipped into his cover identity. Just in time too, as a short, brunette woman in impressively high heels rushed up to meet them.

"Agent Walker, Agent Carmichael, welcome. I'm the Director's assistant, Ms. Williams, but you can call me Kara. It's such an honor to meet you both. I've heard of your mission record, of course. It's very impressive," the young woman gushed, her voice imbued with a sense of awe and eyes lingering on Chuck for a bit longer than suited Sarah's taste.

"Right this way. I'll show you to the conference room." Kara gestured with her hand, finally tearing her eyes away from Chuck and visibly startling as she noticed Danny. "Oh. Oh! Um…" Her voice faltered at Sarah's unforgiving look. "So this is the kid then?"

Sarah resisted the urge to roll her eyes and gave a single, curt nod.

"We weren't expecting him…" Kara trailed off but quickly pulled herself together. "That's okay, I can watch him during the meeting." She reached out her arms towards Danny, who immediately shied away from her touch, tightening his grip around Sarah's neck and whimpering.

"He doesn't really do well with new people," Chuck warned.

"Oh, don't be silly. I'm great with kids!" Kara insisted, and Sarah had no doubt that her bubbly personality usually went over much better with children than with adults.

Kara curled her hands around Danny, ready to pull him from Sarah. "Don't be shy, little guy!"

At her touch, Danny let out a shrill wail, loud enough to cause the busy motion in the atrium to halt as everyone turned to look in their direction.

Kara froze.

"I highly suggest that you let go of him," Sarah gritted out, her body tense.

As soon as Kara's arms dropped, Danny quieted, shoving his face into Sarah's neck.

_Please don't have a meltdown_, Sarah willed, running her hand up his back. His fists clenched tightly in her jacket, and she felt the press of his nose and the warmth of his breath against her neck, but she thankfully didn't feel the wetness of tears.

Kara paled at the deafening silence in the atrium, her face scrunched in confusion. "Kids always like me," she mumbled, her face hurt.

Sarah raised an eyebrow and found herself wondering how it was possible that this girl got a job here, when her emotions showed on her face with only the slightest provocation. Must be nepotism at its finest, she mused.

Chuck was quick to jump in to smooth the situation. "Don't feel bad," he assured Kara. "He really only likes Agent Walker." He gave the young girl a blinding grin and a wink. A blush immediately flushed Kara's cheeks.

Sarah wasn't sure whether to laugh or grit her teeth. "It's probably best if he stays with me," she said instead.

Kara looked stricken, but glanced briefly behind her at the busy atrium before resignation filled her features. "Well, this is very unconventional, but I guess it will have to work. Please follow me. Major Casey is already present."

Kara led them into the conference room, where Casey and several other agents were assembled around an oval table in the center of the room, a large screen hanging on the back wall. In front of the screen stood two men, faces contorting with derision at the sight of Danny wrapped in Sarah's arms after witnessing the disruption in the atrium.

"That kid's like a barnacle, huh?" one of the agents quipped, sneering at Sarah and causing the collection of agents in the room to chuckle.

Sarah's eyes narrowed, feeling the familiar glare and icy tone of Agent Walker rise within her. Ever since she'd discovered Danny early that morning, she'd felt off balance and off her game, and now she relished the sensation of her agent self taking over, finally feeling in control once again. She leveled her stare at the agent who had spoken.

"Do you think that's funny?" She didn't bother to pause, pouring all the frustration of the day into her words as she spit them out. "It seems to me that it was _your _office that allowed the breach of the safe house to occur. It is _your_ office that is responsible for the…" she glanced down at Danny and placed a hand over his exposed ear, "…death of his parents. Did you think you were immune to the consequences? I understand you lost two of your own agents. Surely you can't be taking their deaths as lightly."

Her severe tone brought the room to silence. "The _barnacle_ stays." She raised a scornful eyebrow, daring anyone to contradict her. "Why don't you start acting like professionals and begin the presentation of how exactly your office managed to ruin the life of this child."

Her icy stare meant business, and she looked around the room as the occupants jumped to comply. Her arm instinctively tightened around Danny, and she looked down at him to make sure her sudden outburst hadn't frightened him. A tearful tantrum at this moment would really undermine her point. But she found him peaceful in her arms, his head curled between her neck and shoulder, still clutching the little action figure in his fist.

She sat down in a chair at the far end of the table, facing the screen, and arranged Danny in her lap, placing an arm around his waist to hold him steady. Chuck smirked as he slid into the seat next to Sarah, and Casey raised an amused eyebrow at her in greeting.

The agent who had previously spoken looked at Danny and wagered a final comment, clearly bristled over the fact that a new team was here to take over his case. "We can't have him disrupting the meeting."

"If you'd read the brief, you'd know the child hasn't spoken since the incident. The only person I currently see disrupting this meeting is you. Don't waste any more of our time," Casey gritted out, glaring as he spoke, and Sarah felt a surge of gratitude towards her partner. For all his judging eyebrow raises, he really came through in a pinch. She wished she'd remembered to pick him up some hot pockets while out shopping.

The agent sent Sarah one final death glare before grudgingly beginning the meeting, introducing himself as Agent Chapman and his partner as Agent Elliot before recapping the background details of the asset and safe house. When the presentation reached the nature of the asset's research, they paused and Agent Chapman motioned for a man in the back of the room to come forward.

"Dr. Flinkman is an agency scientist who worked with Dr. Walner on the development of the neurotoxin, and I've asked him to speak in more detail about the research they were completing. Dr. Flinkman?"

A brown haired man with black rimmed glassed pushed far up his nose moved to stand at the front. He wore a plaid, short-sleeve, button-down shirt, complete with pocket protector. Sarah looked at Chuck out of the corner of her eye and saw a smile ghosting his lips.

"Yes, hello, I am Dr. Marshall Flinkman, and I worked with Dr. Walner on his neuroscience research," the man began, speaking a mile a minute in an excited, yet rambling tone. "He had inadvertently created a substance that binds preferentially to neural cells and activates cellular signaling to release chemicals that result in cell death."

Sarah quirked an eyebrow as the scientist barreled onward.

"Causing cell death alone was not the innovation, as there are times when the body activates these processes on its own, and there are ways to accomplish it in the laboratory in vitro. But usually the brain's defense system, the blood-brain barrier, prevents foreign substances from reaching the neural cells. What made the particular compound Dr. Walner discovered so revolutionary was that the body does not recognize it as foreign, and it passes through the blood-brain barrier unhindered. Once the chemical enters the bloodstream, it results in the death of all neuronal cells, rendering a complete lack of function and full incapacitation within a few hours."

Dr. Flinkman's speech was met with a series of blank-faced stares and glazed eyes, with the exception of Chuck, who was nodding with an intrigued look on his face.

Casey grunted in the silence. "The simplified version?"

"Oh, okay, sure. Well, it kills your brain cells. And you die."

Chuck looked thoughtfully at the scientist. "What progress has been made on the counter agent?"

"We may be able to target the toxin and create an autoimmune response that will use the body's own natural defenses to destroy the toxin."

"You _may_?" Casey repeated.

Dr. Flinkman nodded.

"So you currently have nothing," Casey said flatly.

"Well, not _nothing_," Dr. Flinkman protested. All around the table eyebrows rose, and Dr. Flinkman swallowed heavily. "Nothing that's usable in the field yet," he conceded more quietly, eyes flicking downward.

With that admission, Casey stood, taking control of the meeting. "Per General Beckman's orders, we've been assigned to spearhead the search for and containment of the neurotoxin. Our strategy will be twofold, both to identify the group responsible for this attack and to locate the mole within this department that leaked the location of the safe house. Currently the child is the only witness and our best lead. Agent Walker and Agent Carmichael will be in charge of his protection."

He turned to Agents Chapman and Elliot. "I want all your best analysts scrutinizing the details of this case for any distinctive characteristics that might point to the culprit. We're going to follow up on every lead we have. Meanwhile, I will be examining the security measures in place at your facility and launching an investigation into the possible source of the information leak."

The meeting adjourned, agents scattering to complete their newly assigned tasks. Sarah let her shoulders slump the slightest bit and shifted in her chair to look at Chuck, only to find his gaze focused on her wrist, where Danny was fiddling with the little charms of her silver bracelet. Chuck's eyes slowly rose to meet hers, and they'd gone all soft around the edges, paired with a slightly dreamy expression on his face. Though he said nothing, the corner of his mouth quirked up, and the implications were so overwhelming that Sarah's throat began to tighten. She was the first to look away, sucking in a quiet breath and shifting Danny as she stood to escape the weight of Chuck's gaze.

_Focus on the mission_, she repeated like a mantra as she exited the conference room. _Focus on the mission_.

* * *

><p><em>AN #2_: Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N_: My goodness, it's been a while, hasn't it? Bet you thought this was unfinished business, didn't you? ;) Haha. Sorry guys, life happens. As it turns out, they really make you work for those doctorates, which…yeah, I totally should have seen that one coming.

This chapter is dedicated to the awesome **Catrogue**, who was infinitely creative and persistent with compliments and creative motivating tools (read: bribing both **NMH** and myself with pictures of hot guys) in her campaign to make this chapter happen. I mean, she made a hashtag for Danny on twitter. I am powerless in the face of these tactics!

Thanks to everyone who's read this story, and I greatly appreciate all the reviews, alerts, favorites, and comments on twitter! Massive thanks to **NMH**, beta extraordinaire. Let's just say, she does a whole hell of a lot more for this story than just catch my misspellings and wonky spacing, and I'm forever grateful to have her help.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or its characters. This is just for fun, and I'm not making any kind of profit—please don't sue.

* * *

><p>Sarah was diligently filling out an obnoxiously large stack of paperwork on the desk before her when she felt Danny tugging on her pant leg.<p>

"Mmhm?" she said absently, preoccupied with signing in all the designated areas. When her query was met with silence and the pulling on her pant leg continued, she turned to look at Danny, whose eyes were wide and pleading as he bounced up and down with a grimace on his face.

_Oh no, what now? _"What's wrong?"

His big eyes continued to plead with hers, and he kept pulling on her pant leg, looking desperate. Sarah's brow furrowed.

"Um, Sarah? I think he needs to go to the bathroom," Chuck said, looking about two seconds away from laughing as Danny nodded urgently. "You should probably hurry."

"Oh. Oh!" Her eyes widened. "Okay." Sarah shot Chuck an incredulous look as she took Danny's hand. "How could you possibly know that?"

"I'm pretty sure that's the universal 'I have to pee' dance!"

Sarah shot him a half-hearted glare. She felt like a fish out of water about the simplest things concerning this child, and it didn't help that Chuck was clearly enjoying the reversal of their normal roles. She was not nearly as amused by the situation.

As she stepped up to the doors to the women's and men's bathrooms however, her glare rapidly faded into confusion. She was female but Danny was a boy—which bathroom were they supposed to use?

She sighed. "Uh, Chuck?" she called back hesitantly. "Which, uh, door?" She gestured a hand in their general direction.

Chuck walked up behind her, placing a hand at her lower back to point her body towards the ladies' room, and Sarah had to will away the urge to relax into the warmth of his hand.

"Moms are always bringing small kids in with them. It's a big deal when little boys graduate to the men's room," he explained quietly.

The teasing edge was gone for his voice, which Sarah appreciated. She granted him a small, thankful smile as she stepped through the door with Danny.

"Alright, here you go," she said to Danny, gesturing at the toilet as she opened a stall door for him. It was nearly as tall as he was. He looked at it and then back up at Sarah, holding his arms up to be picked up.

"Right." _Oh, dear lord, what have I gotten myself into?_ Sarah thought to herself as she helped him pull down his pants and lifted him to sit on the toilet. And he was absolutely going to fall in if she didn't hold him there. She held in a sigh and averted her eyes to the wall of the stall.

Once he was all finished and zipped back up, she led him to the sinks, quickly realizing she was going to have to facilitate this aspect as well. She hoisted him up and held him against the sink with her body as she turned on the faucet and placed soap on his hands. He played with the soap instead of rubbing his hands together to clean them, dripping the thick liquid from one hand to the other and back again. Sarah cocked an eyebrow before placing her own hands over his and rubbing them together, shaking the excess water off their hands and sitting Danny on the counter while she got some paper towels. He stared up at her as she dried both their hands, swinging his legs back and forth from his perch.

"Look," Sarah began, placing her hands around him on either side of the counter and leaning into them. She pursed her lips and looked up, catching her own gaze in the mirror before swallowing and tucking her hair behind her ear, a vestige of the nervous tic she thought she'd grown out of long ago. Her gaze dropped back down to Danny. "I know I'm not so good at this stuff, so you're going to have to help me, okay?"

Danny smiled, tilting his head to the side and reaching a hand up to her cheek. A smile snuck across her face before she'd even realized it, and it remained firmly in place as she picked him up and headed out the door.

* * *

><p>Chuck watched from across the atrium as Sarah walked back towards him. Even with Danny in her arms, she was the picture of poise and confidence, commanding the attention and respect of everyone around her as she stopped briefly to speak with a few agents. This was Sarah in her natural habitat, and Chuck continued to be struck by how much she <em>belonged<em> here. More so than she ever did working at a fake yogurt shop or charming his sister.

He swallowed heavily and shoved his hands in his pockets as Sarah approached him. Kara was right on her heels, turning a smile towards Chuck, but he only gave her a nod in return, still preoccupied with watching Sarah.

"Hello again, Agent Walker, Agent Carmichael," Kara acknowledged. "I hope your meeting went well. If there is anything I can do to help your mission go more smoothly while you are at our office, please just let me know. I've already sent Major Casey to meet with the technicians responsible for security measures at the laboratory facility." She turned to face Sarah. "Also, Director Evans has requested a meeting with you."

Kara seemed to hesitate, looking down at her shoes. "I think it would be best if you don't bring the child to his office," she said in a nervous, hushed tone. "The, um, interrogation rooms are soundproof, and I could stay there with Danny if necessary."

Sarah frowned, shifting Danny slightly closer before her eyes met Chuck's, and Chuck could tell she was displeased with the offer.

"I can stay with him," Chuck volunteered. "At least he's more familiar with me."

Kara immediately looked relieved and smiled. He smiled politely in return, but his attention was focused on Sarah, who eventually nodded and tilted her head to speak quietly to Danny.

"Danny, I have to go to a meeting for a little while. I need you to stay with Chuck, just for a couple minutes, okay?"

Danny buried his face in her neck, fists gripping her jacket as he let out a little whine of protest. Her eyes met Chuck's again, and he saw her sigh.

"Let me see what I can do," she said to him, turning her body away Kara and the office around them as she continued to whisper to Danny.

Chuck followed at a distance, just able to overhear her words as she gently loosened Danny's grip on her neck to look at his face.

"Danny, just for a couple minutes. And it's Chuck. You know Chuck! He'll keep you safe." She paused. "He's a good guy. You can trust him."

Danny's face tilted slightly so that he could peek one eye out towards where Chuck was standing. Chuck nodded at him, smiling, and Danny quickly buried his face in Sarah's shoulder once again.

"Okay? Will you let Chuck take care of you for a little while? He'll play with you…" Sarah sounded close to begging, something Chuck never thought he'd hear.

Eventually, Chuck saw Danny nod into her neck, and he was grateful for the time he'd spent with Danny and Sarah that morning, or else there would have been little chance of ever getting him to part from Sarah's side. Not that Chuck couldn't understand Danny's motivations to stay close. It was _Sarah_ they were talking about, after all.

"Great!" Sarah's face brightened. "I'll be back soon, don't worry."

Danny allowed himself to be passed to Chuck, and Chuck gave him a huge smile. Sarah quickly smoothed a curl on Danny's head before she spun around and walked back to Kara.

"Hey there, little buddy!" Chuck said, bouncing Danny once on his hip. The corners of Danny's mouth twitched up hesitantly as he looked at Chuck, but his gaze shifted to follow Sarah as she left the room without glancing back in their direction. Danny tensed, then squirmed and reached an arm out towards the door.

Chuck gently ruffled his hair. "She'll be back soon, little guy. It's okay." Danny slowly lowered his arm but didn't take his eyes off the door.

Chuck continued speaking to Danny, his voice low. "I get it. Sarah's special." He paused. "She's special to me too," he said more quietly.

Danny turned his head, eyes seeking reassurance as he looked to the door and back to Chuck again. The sadness present in Danny's eyes felt like a kick in the gut that not even "The Morgan" could protect him from.

"She'll come back." He held Danny's gaze. "She always comes back."

Danny settled more firmly in Chuck's arms, curling his outstretched arm back in towards his chest. Chuck took it for the acceptance that it was. He put his own thoughts of Sarah out of his mind and focused on how to cheer up the little boy in his arms.

"So, Danny, how do you feel about blocks?"

Danny's head cocked to the side, interest piquing his features.

Chuck laughed softly. Yep, they were going to be just fine.

* * *

><p>Sarah sat ramrod straight in a high-backed leather chair, perched at the end of her seat as she regarded Director Evans across the expanse of his wide, mahogany desk. He smiled at her briefly, but Sarah knew better than to relax around a superior. As the head of the L.A. Branch of the CIA, he was also responsible for overseeing much of the CIA's activity along the west coast, and, as such, was someone Sarah would do well to impress.<p>

"Agent Walker, let's get straight to the point. The security of my branch has been compromised, and I do not take the issue of traitors lightly. This incident is an embarrassment to the agency and needs to be dealt with as quickly and quietly as possible. General Beckman seems confident that your team will be able to handle this situation in an efficient manner."

"Let me assure you, Director Evans, that our team is more than capable of conducting a thorough and timely investigation. We are fully invested in containing the leak and preventing a terrorist incident."

The Director gave a wry smile as he spun a pen through his fingers. "Yes, General Beckman mentioned that the child had been placed in your care, so I imagine that would provide a certain motivation to complete this mission as quickly as possible."

Sarah remained impassive even as an unsettled feeling pooled in her gut at the mention of Danny. She redirected the conversation to the goals of the mission. "Recovering the bioweapon is our number one priority. Uncovering the mole and determining the organization responsible for the raid is therefore essential."

The Director gave her a nod and leaned back in his chair. "Your team will have full access to the interrogation rooms on the basement level. Any suspects you identify should be removed from the floor and brought to those rooms immediately." He rested his elbows on the armrests of the chair, folding his hands in front of his chest. "The rooms are well-equipped. I think you'll find everything you need to extract the necessary information."

Sarah inclined her head. "Thank you, Director."

He nodded, making a dismissive motion with his hand that indicated the meeting was over.

Sarah stood to leave and made her way towards the door.

"Agent Walker, one more thing."

She turned back, watching as the he leaned forward, arms on the desk in front of him.

"I know that there can be certain…_compromises_ inherent in collaborating with other agencies,"  
>he began, and Sarah wanted to roll her eyes at the interagency competition rearing its ugly head yet again. She was suddenly grateful that Casey had been otherwise occupied for this meeting.<p>

"You work for the CIA, Agent Walker, and I urge you while you serve your current team to remember where your true loyalty lies."

Sarah nodded, projecting the air of seriousness the situation required, and her eyes did not waver as she held Director Evans' gaze and assured him of her allegiance to the CIA. But even as she acted out the obligatory response, Sarah knew her words were nothing but empty assurances. Her loyalty had already been tested, and in that moment when she had stared down Longshore, there had been no moment of uncertainty or deliberation, no internal debate. The only thing that had mattered was protecting Chuck, no matter who or what threatened him.

* * *

><p>After a quick detour to the restroom to splash some water on her face and regain her composure, she followed Kara's directions to the extra office Chuck and Danny had used during her meeting. As she walked through the door, she spotted them half-hidden under the desk, building a teetering tower of styrofoam coffee cups. Chuck was stretched out along the floor, propped up on one elbow with his suit jacket off and cuffs rolled up around his forearms. He seemed oddly subdued, greeting Sarah with only a small smile and looking at her with an expression she couldn't quite name as he sat up and smoothed the wrinkles from the front of his shirt. When Danny spotted her, his face lit up, and he immediately scrambled up to meet her, his foot hitting the edge of the tower in the process. Chuck flailed an arm out to try to catch the cups, but Danny didn't seem to notice, his attention never wavering from Sarah. He raised his arms to be picked up, and she didn't hesitate, the movement starting to feel fluid and familiar. Danny sighed contentedly as he snuggled into her shoulder, one hand gripping the collar of her suit, and Sarah studiously ignored the small seed of comfort his warmth provided.<p>

* * *

><p>Chuck was uncharacteristically quiet as they left the building and entered the parking garage, a far cry from his normal babbling self.<p>

"Is everything okay, Chuck?" Sarah asked, shifting Danny to her other hip in order to fish the keys out of her pocket.

Chuck looked down, swallowing hard. "I was just thinking…" He trailed off, and when he began again his voice was quiet. "You're pretty well known around here."

She shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly. "The name Agent Walker is."

Chuck stopped walking and shook his head at the ground before raising his eyes to Sarah and blurting out, "You're kind of a big deal."

Sarah paused, keys halfway to the car door and turned towards Chuck, eyebrows pinching together in confusion.

Chuck ran a hand through his hair and sighed before continuing. "I mean, yeah, I already knew that. I knew you were the best. But I hadn't thought about what that really meant. Seeing you in action here, with the weight your name carries…you just, you're…kind of a big deal." He looked down at his feet, hands in his pockets. "Getting assigned to Burbank, to me…" He shook his head, scuffing his shoe on the pavement.

Sarah's shoulders dropped slightly as she let out a breath through her nose. She ached to place her hand on his arm or his cheek, to reassure him with a touch, but she knew the garage had to be well equipped with surveillance cameras. "Chuck," she said softly. "Chuck, look at me." Her heart tightened in her chest when his eyes, full of self-deprecating regret, met hers. "So are you," she said fiercely.

He scoffed, looking down at his feet once again. "Yeah, yeah, the Intersect. I know."

"No, Chuck," Sarah insisted. "Not just because of what is in your head. You are so much more than that." It irked Sarah that Chuck had such little confidence in himself, blind to the fact that he was so much more than a government computer, more than just an asset. Danny squirmed in her arms and she realized she must have tightened her grip on him. She loosened her hold and shifted him slightly up her hip, but her eyes stayed on Chuck. Just as she opened her mouth to reassure him further, a car door slammed, reverberating in the enclosed parking garage and startling them both. When their eyes met again, the moment was broken, and Sarah was painfully aware of their location once again.

She cleared her throat. "We should go. We'll pick up some dinner along the way."

Chuck nodded, giving her a weak smile. Though his expression was still unsure, when he met her gaze the regret and sadness had been edged out by adoration, familiar and bittersweet. Sarah never felt like she deserved that look and turned away to unlock the back doors of the car. When she handed the keys back to Chuck, their fingers grazed in the process, and Sarah had to avert her eyes and quickly pull her hand away, moving to tuck Danny into his car seat as quickly as possible. They needed to get out of this CIA owned garage immediately.

* * *

><p>Dinner consisted of fast food takeout on the way home, and the food seemed to lift everyone's spirits. All in all, Sarah felt a relative sense of accomplishment at both persuading Danny to eat his chicken nuggets and successfully distracting him from fussing with the Kung Fu Panda toy that came in his kids' meal. But once they arrived back at the apartment with several hours left until nightfall and got Danny changed into his <em>Spider-Man<em> pj's, Sarah was at a loss.

"So, Chuck…" She drew out his name, hesitating. He turned to face her.

"Hmm?"

"Um, what do we do with him now?" she hissed out of the corner of her mouth, eyes looking pointedly at Danny.

Chuck smiled. "Well, how about we watch a movie?"

Sarah's mind immediately brought up a picture of the last movie they watched together, and the amount of guns and explosions seemed like a disaster waiting to happen in terms of setting Danny off. One glance at her face and Chuck quickly clarified.

"A kids' movie. You know, animated?"

"Oh, right." She paused. "Where do we get a kids' movie?"

"You're kidding, right? This is the Bartowski residence. We had the entire Disney collection growing up, and given that we possess the packrat gene in this family, we still have them all. I mean, sometimes you have a little nostalgia for the classics." He shrugged one shoulder.

Sarah looked at him rather blankly, and he scoffed. "I know you're some big superspy now, but you _were_ a kid at one point, right? Tell me you at least saw a Disney movie, Sarah?"

She frowned as she dredged her brain. "Um…_The Little Mermaid_?"

A smile spread across his face. "Was that your favorite? That's actually pretty cute, Agent Walker. Did you splash around in the bathtub pretending to have a tail?"

She snorted through her nose as she tried not to laugh.

"Oh, I know! You sang to your fork about gizmos and gadgets aplenty, didn't you?"

Sarah opened her mouth in mock-insult, her hand on her hip. "There was _definitely_ no singing!"

Chuck laughed. "Okay, okay, no singing. But I don't hear a denial of the bathtub splashing," he taunted in a sing-song voice. He raised his eyebrows at her, nudging her with his elbow.

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes but her lips curved up into a smile.

"Aw, don't feel bad! I used to pretend to be Aladdin. I might have even called Morgan Abu for a while and made him wear a little hat and vest combo." He grinned, crossing his arms over his chest and rocking on the balls of his feet.

The corner of her mouth quirked up. "Did you dress up, too?"

His face fell and his eyes took on a panicked look. "Uh…"

Sarah narrowed her eyes playfully, rising to the challenge. "Wait a minute, are there photos? There are, aren't there?"

"No!"

If his slightly higher pitch and overly quick denial hadn't been enough of a flag to Sarah, the bright shade of red beginning to creep up his face and neck certainly gave him away.

Chuck cleared his throat. "Of course not." He made a poor attempt at a scoff and sputtered out a laugh. "Uh, let's just not go there. Let's just, um..."

His eyes darted around the room, and Sarah made a valiant effort to keep an innocent, questioning look plastered on her face as he squirmed.

Chuck's frantic gaze landed on Danny. "Danny! Hey there! We're going to watch a movie! Yeah! It's gonna be great. You get to pick which one. I'll just go grab them and you can choose."

Sarah smiled at his deflection and made a mental note to ask Ellie for the childhood photo album next time they had dinner together. It would be the perfect opportunity to bond with Ellie and solidify the cover as the doting girlfriend. If Sarah were also able to satisfy her own curiosity, well then, that would just be a bonus.

Chuck brought the movies over to Danny, who immediately pointed at _Aladdin_. Chuck broke into a huge grin. "Ha, I win!" he scrunched his nose in Sarah's direction.

She shook her head at him but couldn't wipe the grin off her face as she got situated on the couch, Danny immediately climbing into her lap. Chuck popped in the old VHS and turned around. A soft half-smile came across his face while he looked at her and Danny. His eyes found hers, and it was too much for Sarah to handle. Distraction seemed like the best tactic. She shifted her gaze.

"Chuck you're blocking the TV! Sit down already," she said in her best attempt at a teasing tone.

Chuck laughed and sat down next to her, not-so-casually laying his arm behind her on the couch. As the movie played, his arm slowly inched closer until it was draped across her shoulders. Her first instinct was to shrug out of it, but it risked disturbing Danny, and Sarah was well aware of the fact that a quiet Danny was a luxury worth preserving. She peeked at Chuck out of the corner of her eye and decided to let it go just this once, turning her attention back to the screen.

* * *

><p><em>AN #2_: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow!


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N_: Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to read this story and for all of you that have left a review/message/favorite/alert! I'm honestly pretty blown away, and it means so much to me to hear that you are enjoying the chapters.

As always, extra thanks to my beta, **NMH**, for keeping my grammar in line and always making me smile! Getting the chapters back with her hilarious commentary and suggestions sprinkled throughout the text is my favorite part of this process. Thanks, hon, for all that you do!

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or its characters. This is just for fun, and I'm not making any kind of profit—please don't sue.

* * *

><p>She was in <em>hell<em>.

Sarah was sure of it, every pacing step she took with a sobbing Danny in her arms further proof of her condemnation.

It felt like punishment, a cruel penalty for having let her tense muscles relax and body sink down into the couch during the movie earlier. Danny had been snuggled in her lap, his thumb in his mouth while clutching the corner of his new special blanket in his fist, and Chuck's arm had been securely wrapped around her shoulders. It had been…nice, which had given her pause, and around the time she found herself smiling as the genie lamented his "itty bitty living space," it had hit her like a slap in the face that she felt a whole hell of a lot more comfortable than she should. The arm around her shoulders and warm weight in her lap had suddenly felt stifling, and not until _Aladdin_ ended and Chuck stretched, cool air replacing the heat of his arm, did Sarah feel like she could breathe again.

By that time, Danny had been asleep in her arms, long, pale eyelashes resting peacefully against his chubby cheeks and hand still clutched tightly around his blanket. Even though Sarah had wanted to bolt, she had moved slowly and carefully for fear of disturbing him, succeeding in keeping him sleeping calmly throughout her trek from the living room to Chuck's bedroom.

It was only when she went to extricate him from her arms that his body jolted awake, clutching at Sarah and letting out a wail in protest. Every time Sarah had tried to lay him down on the bed, he had cried. And cried. And clung to Sarah desperately. The child was much more squirmy than she thought possible, wiggling out of her grip as she placed him on the bed only to cling to her again.

Grimacing, she had turned to look at Chuck, hugging the little body to her chest, and had begun to pace, trying to calm him while getting more and more frustrated herself with the clingy, heartbreaking, mind-numbing crying. Every time his cries quieted to small sniffles and his body relaxed in her arms, she would try to lay him down the on the bed, which only served to restart the process. It was as if the second he lost her body heat he would be triggered to wake up, full of separation anxiety.

Sarah was at the end of her patience, gritting her teeth as she paced with the crying child and reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose in an attempt to quell the throbbing in her head. The CIA was missing out on a torture technique here, because Sarah was sure that if this went on for another hour her resolve would break and she would willingly divulge any number of secrets to secure her escape.

Finally, she gave up, lying down on the bed herself with Danny wrapped around her side as she rubbed his back. Sarah may not have much experience with losing, but even she had a breaking point where it was time to admit she would not win the fight.

Sarah waited long after Danny's breathing evened out, until she was sure he was in a deep sleep, before pulling the sheets up over him and carefully tucking his blanket into his arms in her place. As delicately as she could, she rose from the bed, running a hand through her hair and blinking.

She padded into the living room in her socks, where Chuck was sprawled on the couch, headphones on and video game controller in hand. His tongue poked out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on the screen, fingers rapidly pressing the buttons of the controller. Sarah watched for a moment before stepping into his line of sight, causing Chuck to startle, fumbling the controller as he whipped off the headphones.

"Hey!" he said, voice high and squeaky. He cleared his throat. "Hey," he said again in a more normal tone. He gave her a slightly guilty half-smile.

"He's asleep," Sarah said simply, too exhausted to beat around the bush. "Will you keep an eye on him while I run back to my room? I need to grab a shower and a change of clothes."

Chuck nodded. "Of course."

"Thanks, Chuck. I'll be back soon." She gave Chuck a small smile as she grabbed her keys and slipped on her shoes. After a moment's hesitation, she grabbed the keys to Chuck's apartment as well. Given the lateness of the hour, she would probably need to let herself in when she returned. She held his keys up in silent question, and when he nodded and smiled softly at her in reply, she headed out the door.

* * *

><p>Sarah drove to her hotel on autopilot, eyes focused on the bright glow of brake lights and streetlamps while her mind drifted to Danny. The more time she spent with him, the more cognizant she was of just how young he was, much too young to have witnessed his parents' death and have his life so irrevocably changed in one fell swoop. No one deserved that fate, especially not an innocent child.<p>

But what truly baffled Sarah was why in his grief he had chosen to become attached to _her_, of all people. _Her_ - who had learned to have attachments to no one and nothing, not even a name. _Her_ - who had seen horrible, horrible things, some committed by her own two hands. How could those hands be the same ones that somehow provided comfort and calmed this child? Why did he grip onto her like his life depended on it, like she was the tether to what was good in life, when she was certainly not that and definitely not comforting or maternal? She'd always thought that there would be a vibe a child could sense, a warning sign that would steer them clear of her, but somehow she'd found herself here, in charge of the wellbeing of a child who needed so much more than she knew how to give.

The more Sarah thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt in her own skin, itchy and unsettled. She had been wound tight by her lapse in judgment during the movie, pulled tighter still with every second Danny had sobbed in her ear until she felt twisted so taut that every muscle was on edge and felt ready to snap.

She needed her punching bag. Needed to kick and punch and jab all those thoughts away until they fell around her feet and her agent training slipped back into place. The agent mask was familiar, had always been second nature to her before Burbank, and once she fit it on again, everything would be fine.

Arriving at her hotel, she parked and made her way to her room, changing quickly into her exercise gear. _Everything will be fine_, she repeated to herself as she finished wrapping her hands and begun to methodically hit the bag. She let the repetition lull her into a trance, allowing her mind to go blank. _Everything will be just fine_.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Sarah was left with the calm sort of accomplished exhaustion that the end of a hard workout brings, all her questions and unwanted emotions having drained out through the soles of her feet and the curled fists of her hands and the sweat dripping down her back. She took a deep, cleansing breath and set off for a shower to soothe her muscles and rinse away the day.<p>

She stood under the shower head, letting the water running down her back lull her mind and enjoying the steam swirling around her until a loud ringing broke into her consciousness. She quickly turned off the shower and grabbed a towel, frowning as she answered the phone.

"Chuck? Did you change the ringtone on my phone to the _Charlie's Angels_ theme song?" Before her assignment in Burbank she never would have been able to identify the song, but Chuck and Morgan had insisted the show was part of her 'pop culture education', and by now she'd seen more episodes than she cared to admit. She did rather like Cheryl Ladd's character, though.

"Oh, yeah, only for when I call, so you'll know it's me," Chuck said distractedly. Sarah was suddenly aware of crying in the background of the call.

"What's wrong?" she demanded as she finished toweling off and quickly threw on some clothes, grabbing new jeans and a shirt for the next day, plus an extra just to be safe. She was already halfway out of the door as Chuck rushed through an explanation of Danny waking up and panicking that Sarah wasn't there.

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

She could hear Chuck trying to reassure Danny through the phone line, but the crying didn't lessen.

"I'm trying to calm him down, but he's still freaking out," Chuck said into the phone.

Sarah bit her lower lip as she unlocked her car and hopped in. "I'm in the car now. Just give me a few minutes."

"Wait! I have an idea. Sarah, don't hang up. Let me put the phone up to his ear so he can hear you." When Chuck spoke again, his voice was farther away. "Look, look, Danny, Sarah's on the phone right here. Listen, you can hear her." Then more clearly, "Sarah, he's holding the phone, talk to him."

"Danny? Danny, it's Sarah. It's okay. Don't cry, please? Don't cry. I'm on my way—I'll be there very soon. Please, Danny, don't cry. I'm on my way, okay?" And she was, pulling her car into the street and hitting the gas.

"Chuck? What's happening? Is he okay?"

"He won't give up the phone, hold on, just a sec…okay, I've got the speakerphone button pressed. He's calming down, just keep talking Sarah. This is helping."

"What should I talk about, Chuck? I don't know what to say."

"Um, anything to keep talking. Try telling him a story, maybe?"

A story? Sarah didn't exactly have a bank of stories to draw on. At least not ones that didn't involve insurgents or grenades, anyway. "A story about what?"

"It doesn't matter Sarah, just hearing your voice is calming him down. Tell a story about when you were a kid. Anything. Just keep talking."

Sarah cleared her throat to buy herself some time and heard Danny start to cry again on the other end of the line. Frantic, she tried to think of a story from her childhood, verbalizing the first memory that popped into her head. Her eyes widened when she realized she was recounting the embarrassing Christmas that she did not get the _Barbie _RV she had desperately wanted but _did_ get a black eye after falling down the stairs in a fit of excitement to reach the Christmas tree.

There was no way she wasn't going to regret this.

After a rushed, somewhat crooked parking job, Sarah reached the apartment as she finished describing the memory, still holding the phone to her ear as she unlocked and opened the front door, her voice trailing off as she saw Chuck. He was on the couch, propped into the corner with his knees slightly bent in front of him. Danny was on his back on Chuck's chest, the phone gripped tightly in his hands even though it was clear he was asleep again. Chuck gave her a slow smile before beginning to pry the phone from Danny's fingers as Sarah moved over to lift him out of Chuck's arms. Danny tensed and started to cry as he woke up, flailing his arms in protest. Sarah moved her hand up to cradle Danny's head, whispering "shhh" in an awkward way that came out all stuttered, but thankfully seemed to be good enough. Danny's body relaxed as he nosed sleepily at her and pushed his face into her neck. His shoulders drooped and he became dead weight against her, his arms flopping to the side as he fell back to sleep.

"You know," Sarah whispered to Chuck, eyebrow raised, "you could have _told_ me when I was on the phone that Danny had fallen asleep."

A smirk overtook his face, all satisfied in a cat-caught-the-canary way. "Now, now, Sarah, where would the fun be in that?" he said as he walked away.

Since no one was there to see, Sarah let herself smile as she watched him leave the room.

* * *

><p>It was late in the morning by the time Sarah found herself awake and in the kitchen with Danny. Thankfully, Chuck had put a pot of coffee on to brew, and they exchanged sleepy smiles before settling into a comfortable, we're-not-yet-caffeinated silence. Sarah placed Danny in his booster seat as Chuck brought over a bowl full of dry cheerios and a sippy cup of milk. With a steaming mug of coffee in her hands, Sarah joined them at the table, sighing as she took the first glorious sip. She let herself savor the luxury of waking up slowly, an indulgence that was few and far between in the spy life, and she hid a smile in her cup as she took in the amount of curls that were askew on the sleepy heads of her tablemates. She belatedly realized she hadn't looked in a mirror yet this morning either, but she was pretty sure her hair was in the best shape of the bunch. She smoothed a hand through the strands. Yep, pretty sure.<p>

The morning passed uneventfully, with Chuck setting Danny up with paper and crayons on the floor, where Danny had created what Chuck had called a masterpiece. Sarah had only see a mass of squiggles, but Danny had worn the biggest smile she'd seen from him yet when Chuck had hung it on the fridge, so she was more than willing to concede the term.

"Sarah, I've got to go in for a shift at the Buy More," Chuck said, pulling his head out of the fridge. "Looks like you'll need to pick up some things at the store before we can actually eat again. I don't think Danny's going to be keen on Awesome's special protein shakes…"

She nodded as Chuck walked passed her. _Just what she always wanted - more shopping._

"Hey, Chuck?"

Chuck pivoted at the door, halfway through tying his tie. "Yeah?"

Sarah lowered her voice as Chuck walked back towards her. "What will he eat?"

Chuck gave her a look like she was crazy. "I don't know, buy some more of what he's already eaten - fruit, chicken fingers, peanut butter, cereal. And then maybe some noodles? Try asking him if he'll eat certain things when you get to the store."

At her wide-eyed look, he tilted his head to the side, a placating smile on his face. "You'll be fine! I'm catching a ride with Casey, but I'll be back by five. Oh, and don't forget milk!"

* * *

><p>"Alright, Danny, we're going to play a little game." Sarah said, placing Danny in the seat in the grocery cart and helping him thread his legs into the right spaces. "It's called, 'What will Danny eat?' and it's easy. I'm going to hold something up, and you're going to say yes," she exaggerated nodding her head, "or no," she shook her head. "Okay?"<p>

Danny looked at her, but otherwise didn't move a muscle.

"I'm taking that as a yes," she muttered to herself, pushing the cart towards the pasta aisle.

Sarah picked up a package of spaghetti noodles and held them for Danny to see. He nodded shyly.

"Yeah? Okay, then." Sarah placed that box in the cart and grabbed another for good measure, then held up a jar of tomato sauce, which also got a small nod.

"It's always about what they want, isn't it? It just never ends," joked a passing mother, one kid in the cart and another holding onto to the edge as they navigated the aisle.

"Oh, yeah, haha, what can you do?" Sarah joked along, aiming for playful but possibly falling short.

"Sometimes it's enough that they'll eat anything! It's that age. I'm sure you know by now."

Sarah put on a fake smile and nodded along, eager to get out of this chat before she had to explain any more about Danny.

"You really shouldn't let him dictate everything you buy, though. It's important he knows who's in charge now or you're just setting yourself up for problems later," the woman continued, her tone veering off from friendly and into condescending.

_Wow, thanks for the unwanted advice._

"Okay, thanks. You have a nice day," Sarah quickly cut the woman off, making an impromptu three-point turn and hightailing it out of the aisle. She busied herself at a canned food display, watching out of the corner of her eye as the mother went down the aisle marked 'Juices and Water.'

"Sorry, Danny, we're going to have to skip juice."

Danny's eyebrows drew together and his bottom lip started to quiver.

"Wait, no, no, don't do that! We'll go back and get some in a minute. Just wait until that woman's left the aisle."

The lip retracted slightly, but Danny still looked upset, and Sarah looked around frantically for something with which to distract him. She caught sight of a display of _Teddy Grahams_ on the end of the aisle and grabbed a box. "Look, Danny, here's some cookies shaped like little bears! Do you want these?"

Danny nodded slowly, the lip still slightly pouted.

"Yeah? Okay, here, we can have some right now," Sarah said as she popped open the top on the box and pulled apart the plastic bag inside. She gave the box to Danny, who held it on both sides and tipped his whole head over it to peer inside. He looked back up at Sarah, who glanced at her hand, gave it a quick wipe on her shirt, and then stuck it in the box. "It's okay, Danny, go ahead. See?" She popped the cookies in her mouth and smiled.

_Hmm, not half bad. _

Danny tilted his head, watching her, and then looked into the box again, this time sticking his hand down and triumphantly emerging with a handful of the little bears. He ate one out of his fist, wiggling happily in his seat as he reached back in the box and munched happily.

Crisis averted, Sarah breathed a sigh of relief and wandered down the next nearest aisle, frozen foods. Spotting chicken nuggets, Sarah dutifully grabbed a bag to place in the cart and continued down the aisle. She paused at hot pockets, tilting her head thoughtfully before throwing a box into the cart. Taking care of Danny for this assignment had the need to bribe Casey written all over it.

Deciding they were done with packaged foods, Sarah headed towards the produce section. "You liked that apple the other day right? So we can pick up some more of those…" Sarah said as she placed several apples into one of the clear produce bags.

She held up zucchinis, green beans, and mushrooms and got negative head shakes on all in return. She looked back in the cart and frowned, seeing mainly processed, sugary foods and very little of anything fresh. She was _not_ going to fail the mission by malnourishing this child. Game over, she was going to buy vegetables anyway, throwing baby carrots and a head of broccoli into the cart, along with a cucumber and some tomatoes. Danny wrinkled his nose and shook his head, but she ignored it.

Surveying the cart, Sarah decided they could make their way to the check-out with enough food for a couple days' worth of meals. Unfortunately, the judgmental mom had the same idea, and they ran into her in the central aisle. The woman pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows as they approached.

"Uh oh! Letting him snack in the store!" The woman laughed sharply. "My boys will never eat a real dinner if I let them snack this time of day, but I _do_ hope you'll have better luck."

Sarah smiled coolly and laughed off the comment until the woman's back was turned. She looked down at her watch, which read 4:30pm, and then back up at Danny, whose face was covered in cookie crumbs and who was grinning happily.

It was _perhaps_ the slightest bit possible that there had been a flaw in her bribery tactics. Maybe.

Well. She'd just have to wait and see. At least he was happy, and Sarah was not above counting the little victories of this mission.

* * *

><p>Chuck had been helping Sarah put the groceries away in the kitchen when the front door opened, signaling Ellie and Awesome were home. He shared a quick look with Sarah, his own face full of panic, as they went out into the living room to meet them.<p>

"Oh my God, who is this?" Ellie paused in the middle of the room and looked excitedly between Sarah, Chuck, and Danny. Danny hid his face in Sarah's neck.

"Hey, Ellie, this is Danny, my cousin's son. She hit a bit of a rough patch, so I'm watching him for a couple days," Sarah said to Ellie with a smile, even as Chuck suppressed a grimace at lying to his sister, _again_.

"Danny, this is Ellie. She's Chuck's sister, and that's Devon, her boyfriend," Sarah said more quietly to Danny, her hand rubbing his back. Chuck could barely hear as she leaned closer to his ear and whispered quiet assurances that it was okay.

"Awesome," said Devon, predictably. "Welcome, little guy. Mi casa es su casa."

"Hi, Danny!" Ellie said brightly, moving closer and leaning her hands on her knees to bring her face to Danny's level.

Danny peeked an eye out towards Ellie and quickly hid his face in Sarah's shoulder again. "Aw, such a shy little guy." Ellie straightened up. "He's adorable, Sarah! I had no idea you had family in the area."

Chuck's heart raced. Ellie always pushed for details, and they'd forgotten to hash them out. He swallowed around the lump in his throat, but Sarah kept talking, so he was saved from having to answer himself.

"Oh, you know, several hours away. Not really close enough for casual visits, but good in an emergency. We're honestly not really that close."

"But you must want to see your little cousin here as much as possible," Ellie insisted, smiling at Danny again. "He obviously adores you."

Sarah shook her head and laughed, bright and bubbly in a way that Chuck knew was not her real laugh, meaning she'd slipped fully into the role of charming Ellie. "I'm not so great with kids."

Ellie gave Sarah a disbelieving look, eyebrows raised, but she mercifully dropped the subject and headed towards the kitchen.

"Oh, you got groceries, how sweet! What a nice surprise. Chuck, come help me finish putting them away. Sarah, you stay out there and play with your adorable cousin," Ellie called from the kitchen.

Chuck shot a glance at Sarah, who gave him a small, private smile as he rolled his eyes. Subtle, Ellie was not.

Immediately upon entering the kitchen, Ellie turned towards him, eyes bright. "She's really good with him, Chuck."

Ever since they were kids, Ellie could never successfully mask her happiness, her tone of voice giving her away every time. Chuck was therefore well aware that she was downright gleeful at the scene in front of them, no matter how calm and cool she tried to play it.

His gaze shifted to where Sarah was playing with Danny in the living room, and he nodded. Sarah was sitting on the floor with Danny standing between her legs as Awesome attempted to teach Danny how to give a high five. She was laughing as she guided Danny's arm to give him a little more swing.

"Chuck, I hope you realize that this moment, right here in front of you, is a glimpse into the _real_ future you could have with this girl." She gave Chuck a _look_.

Chuck held up his hands defensively. "Ellie! Too fast, okay! Slow down."

"Okay, okay. It's just, you can't deny that it's true. Not when it's right in front of your face." She gave him another long look before pulling him into a hug.

As she left the kitchen, Chuck whispered quietly to her back, "I know." He placed his palms on the counter, leaning his body weight into his hands before straightening up and running his fingers through his hair. "I know," he repeated as his eyes found their way to Sarah once again.

* * *

><p><em>AN #2_: Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts. And before you ask: yes, it was me that wanted and did not get a Barbie RV for Christmas. What can I say? I totally had a thing for RV's as a kid, haha. I…have no explanation for this. I never got a black eye though, so chock that bit up to poetic license ;)


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